Saturday, July 24, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Grand Tasting and Silent Auction

Members $150, guests $200, VIP Tables of Ten $5,000 ($3,500 is a tax-deductible charitable donation. For more information contact: Diane Harris Brown 212.627.1128)

For reservations please contact The James Beard Foundation 212.627.2308.

Please note: the event entrance is north of the Vineyard entrance.

Since Diamond Jim Brady held court at Delmonico’s, there has always been at least one restaurant in the Big Apple that defined the city’s social milieu. Impressive for the quality of the food and the wealth and power of the clientele, these supping rooms of the society set have fueled the ambitions of the people who eat in them, as well as the owners and chefs of other eateries around town. The Colony. Le Pavillion, The Four Seasons (which is still going strong), are the places we’re talking about. And since 1974, the hobbers have nobbed while eating the exquisite food at Le Cirque, under the ever-watchful, knowing, generous eye of owner Sirio Maccioni.

This year, on the release of his new memoir, Sirio: The Story of My Life and Le Cirque (Wiley), written with James Beard Foundation Award–winning journalist Peter Elliot of Bloomberg Radio, we are honoring Maccioni for his achievements at our annual Chefs & Champagne celebration. Elliot will be on hand, too.

The setting for this event— the lush grounds of Wölffer Estate Vineyards and Stables—has begun to feel like our Hamptons home away from home. Proprietor Christian Wölffer and winemaker/general manager Roman Roth generously share some of their splendid, award-winning wines during the evening. Guests will enjoy bottomless flutes of Champagne Charles Heidsieck, the first Champagne from France to be imported into the United States, and still one of the region’s best bubblies. As always, the food will be taken care of by a collection of some of the finest chefs working in the Northeast (and a stray South Carolinian!), Naturally, we’ve invited Pierre Schaedlin, the current chef of Le Cirque 2000, to make a dish or two. And Nina Griscom, Beard trustee, socialite, and hostess with the most-est, has graciously agreed to again chair our event. It wouldn’t be the same without her.

Maccioni came to the United States in the 1950s after attending hotel school in his native Montecatini Terme in Tuscany. He must have liked what he saw at his first job, as maître d’ at Delmonico’s, because his second job was at The Colony, where he no doubt solidified his fate and his future clientele. When he opened Le Cirque, the city’s social elites came out to support him—and they haven’t left yet. Together with his wife, Egidiana, and their three sons, Marco, Mario, and Mauro, Maccioni has gone on to build a small empire of restaurants, which includes the elegant Osteria del Circo in Manhattan and a second Le Cirque and Circo at Bellagio in Las Vegas. (There are other projects in the works.)

For the juicy details of the events that Maccioni and his crew have been part of or privy to over the years, you’ll have to read the book. In the meantime, come to the Hamptons to celebrate the person whom Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine and one-time restaurant reviewer of The New York Times, described in the May issue of Vanity Fair as “the most important restaurateur of the era.”

Silent but sumptuous…
Our Chefs & Champagne auction promises to excite and entice you. Rare wines, state-of-the-art cookware, culinary treasures, and fine dining from extraordinary chefs are among the items on the menu, as are several packages of exotic luxury travel, courtesy of JG Representation, Inc., Exclusive Resorts, Hotels, and Excursions Worldwide. Can you picture yourself touring northern California wine country from a luxury boat? You’ll be visiting wineries, enjoying delicious meals, and taking in fabulous art. Or perhaps a tranquil three-night stay at the charming Relais & Châteaux Hastings House Country Estate on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia is more your style? Fancy yourself a modern-day cowboy? Make that fantasy real in a luxury cabin at Triple Creek Ranch, yours for three nights. At this exclusive Big Sky resort, cowboy cuisine takes on a whole new meaning! These and more are on the auction block at Chefs & Champagne. Please celebrate with us!

Title Sponsors:

Champagne Charlie Sponsor:

Blanc des Millénaires Sponsor:

Brut Reserve Sponsors:

Supporters:

ChefWorks®
DeBragga & Spitler
East Hampton Point
Great Performances
Long Island Wine Gazette
Nestlé Waters North America
Sag Harbor Florist
Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Wüsthof-Trident

Special thanks to:

Yusi and Joe Gurrera
Bonnie and Ben Krupinski