Sunday, May 1, 6:00 pm
Members $350, guests $400

For reservations or more information, please call 212.627.2308.

“I often have people say to me, ‘I would be afraid to ask you to dinner,’” a bemused Beard wrote in an early 1970s newspaper article entitled “The Perfect Dinner Party.” “Well, why?” he responded. “Everyone has some specialty he does extraordinarily well.”

Why, indeed! There’s no question that Beard’s 102nd birthday celebration will be the sort of perfect dinner party Jim would have been happy to attend. And, to be sure, there will be many people cooking up their specialties. This year we are back at the splendid Four Seasons restaurant, winner of our 1999 San Pellegrino Outstanding Restaurant and 1998 Smithfield Foods Outstanding Service Awards. Beard consulted on the menu for the opening of the groundbreaking restaurant, which in 1959 was the first American restaurant to take seasonal cooking—not to mention Modernism—seriously. For more than 45 years, the Four Seasons has defined New York fine dining.

Joining Four Seasons chef Christian “Hitsch” Albin and pastry chef Patrick Lemblé in the kitchen is a team of James Beard Foundation Award–winning chefs, who were also all nominated for last year’s All-Clad Metalcrafters Outstanding Chef Award. They include molto Mario Batali and crafty Tom Colicchio, who have both won American Express Best Chef: New York City honors (Batali in 2002, Colicchio in 2000) and illy Best New Restaurant Awards (for Babbo in 1999 and Craft in 2002, respectively). Nobu Matsuhisa, who also won an illy Best New Restaurant Award in 1995 for the opening of Nobu in New York, will join them, as will Alfred Portale, who received his American Express Best Chef: New York City designation in 1993 and a San Pellegrino Outstanding Restaurant Award for Gotham Bar and Grill in 2002. The sweet conclusion to the meal will be served up by Emily Luchetti, last year’s All-Clad Bakeware Outstanding Pastry Chef Award winner.

We wouldn’t be able to aim for perfection without the generous and continuing support of the Jack Daniel Distillery and Jack Daniel’s great-grandniece, Lynne Tolley, who will raise a glass to Beard at dinner. During the cocktail reception, the masterful mixologists at the Four Seasons will pour a special Jack Daniel’s cocktail developed just for the birthday celebration.

And to drink with dinner, we have a cellarful of people to thank for their generous wine donations: Gregory Balogh of Maisons Marques and Domaines, Joseph Bastianich of Azienda Agricola J. Bastianich in the Colli Orientali del Friuli region of Italy, Joseph Ciriello of Summa Vitis/Matthew Fioretti Selections, Hiroshi Hasegawa of JFC International Inc., and John Laird of Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines.

As in years past, a couple of special Awards for service to the Foundation will be presented at this year’s birthday dinner, including the Perry Award, which goes to an outstanding volunteer.

There’s a lot to celebrate. Though Beard won’t be at this “perfect” dinner party, we hope to see you and your friends.