The Fourth of July may have come and gone...the white-shoe deadline long past...you may even have broken out your bathing suit and headed for the beach...but it isn't officially summer until Chefs & Champagne comes around. A celebration of that favorite beverage of ease and good times, that ideal drink for a hot summer's day, that very Hamptons libation, this event is guaranteed to make you feel as bubbly and light as the drink itself. Plus, of course, there will be every variety of fabulous summer food imaginable; Chefs & Champagne is, after all, an upscale picnic, James Beard Foundation-style. The ten-year anniversary of this favorite Beard event promises to be the best launch ever to the Hamptons foodie season. Now that's a reason to raise a glass or two!

To celebrate, we've put together a lineup of top toques from across the Northeast-some 30 in all, who will be cooking up a storm for a tent full of gastronomes, food professionals, culinary writers, and other assorted superstars. The evening under the stars at the beautiful Wölffer Estates in Sagaponack will be hosted once again by Nina Griscom, our own glamorous Beard board member, television host, author, Food & Wine columnist, and culinary aficionado extraordinaire. Our guests of honor are Michael and Ariane Batterberry, co-founders of Food & Wine and Food Arts; authors of some 18 books on food, entertaining, art, and social history; and inductees in the D'Artagnan/Cervena-Beard Foundation Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America. In order to toast them properly, of course, we'll need some superior bubbly, and the Taittinger will be flowing all evening. There will be enough to sip with every plate of beautiful food plus some left over to toast your own good luck in snagging a spot at this summertime oceanside fête. Just in case you need to take a break from the eating and drinking, we've got a silent auction lined up, a "Beard Boutique" featuring vacation packages, amazing gourmet escapes, gorgeous cookware, fashion accessories, and some very fine wines.

Never mind that other social calendar. Dig out your best summer hat, pull on those white shoes, and join us under the big tent: there's no better way to start the summer off deliciously right.