Sunday, November 3, 6:00 p.m. cocktails and silent auction, 7:00 p.m.
dinner Members and guests $250
For reservations or more information, please call 770.497.9727

In the four years since he opened his restaurant Sia's, on the outskirts of Atlanta, Iranian-born Sia Moshk has become known as the host extraordinaire of one of the region's finest restaurants. "Sia's is a cocoon of luxury," Christiane Lauterbach wrote in Atlanta magazine, "spun by an exemplary new restaurateur." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the restaurant "one of the metro area's best," and recently Zagat called Sia's a "beautiful, suburban star" with "superb Asian-Southwestern creations." Those creations are the domain of Scott Serpas, Sia's executive chef and a veteran of the kitchens of Mr. B's Restaurant and Le Meridien in New Orleans, Baby Routh's in Dallas, and Nava in Atlanta. For their third Beard Benefit in as many years, they have invited this crew of talented chefs for what promises to be a deliciously special night.

Guest chef Philippe Chin made several trips to the Beard House while based in Philadelphia at his restaurants ChinChin Bar and Lounge and Philippe at the Locust Club. When he moved to Augusta to open Bambu on Hickman at the Partridge Inn, Augustans greeted this French-Chinese Maître Cuisinier de France and repeat winner of Mobil four-stars and Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence with open arms. "He's ours…all ours," trumpeted Augusta magazine.

"A deliciously original restaurant…Dick and Harry's deserves every bit of its popularity," according to Knife & Fork magazine, which went on to call Dick and Harry's executive chef, Harold Marmulstein, "a serious and sensuous cook." CIA grad Marmulstein has worked at Atlanta favorites The Fish Market, Mobil Four-Star Pano's and Paul's, and 103 West; he also ran his own restaurant, The Polo Grill, in Baltimore. Dick and Harry's, a collaboration with brother Richard Marmulstein, has received serious critical acclaim and was named Best New Restaurant (1996) and Best in the 'Burbs (2001) by Atlanta magazine.

At Spice, Jonathan St. Hilaire serves up "chic" and "high-energy" (as described by The Hudspeth Report) New American cuisine such as hand-cut black pepper ravioli filled with red pepper and chèvre or herb-rubbed rib eye with smoked tomato tart, red bliss potatoes, and bourbon sauce. In these savories there's nary a trace of St. Hilaire's time in the pastry kitchens of top-notch restaurants such as Bouley Bakery, Café Boulud, Picholine, Eleven Madison Park, Le Cirque, and Payard Pâtisserie, where he worked after graduating from the pastry program at the French Culinary Institute. St. Hilaire, originally from New Hampshire, moved to Atlanta to work in pastry at Canoe. However, when Spice came calling, he realized his gift for pre-dessert fare.

Providing the sweet finale to the evening will be Sarah Koob, executive pastry chef at Canoe, and a CIA graduate. Before starting at Canoe, where her desserts include melted Georgia peaches with sweet ginger cream and blueberry sorbet and Venezuelan chocolate cookies with cream, espresso granita, and cinnamon chantilly, Koob worked in the area at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, Tom Tom—-A Bistro, and Van Gogh's Restaurant and Bar. She and her desserts have been featured in Atlanta magazine, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and on the local television show "Peachtree Morning."