Event location: The Ruins, 570 Roy St., Seattle

For reservations or more information, please call (206) 728-1213.

The theme of this gala dinner is East Meets West, but before you accuse us of failing geography in school, read on. While on the surface, it seems that bringing together Christine Keff of Fandango and Flying Fish in Seattle with Roxsand Scocos of RoxSand in Phoenix would more aptly be called Northwest meets Southwest, can we remind you that we're talking about the food here? Both of these Beard award-winning chefs are gifted, enthusiastic melders of the flavors of Asia and America. The setting for our Friends of James Beard Benefit is Seattle's most exclusive private club, The Ruins, which includes among its unusual rooms the Ha Ha Ballroom, complete with lavish chandeliers and a life-size stuffed elephant (more East meets West, wouldn't you know).

Christine Keff's interest in Asian cuisine was sparked by an extended trip she took a little over a decade ago through the Far East. Ever since that palate-opening journey, Keff has sought to incorporate Asian elements into her own highly eclectic cuisine, melding them with the beautiful ingredients that surround her in the Pacific Northwest. For her signature crabcakes at Flying Fish, for instance, she replaces the usual tartar sauce with a lemongrass mayonnaise that incorporates ginger and nuoc nam. Keff began her career as an apprentice at The Four Seasons in New York. She established a name for herself in Seattle in 1992 at the prestigious Hunt Club in the Sorrento Hotel. After a stint at the Yarrow Bay Grill in Kirkland, she realized her lifelong ambition by opening her own place. She has been flying high at Flying Fish ever since. John Hinterberger of Seattle Times Magazine has described her as "a genius with seafood," and Bon AppÈtit included Flying Fish among the nation's top new restaurants. These days Keff divides her time between Flying Fish and her latest sensation, Fandango, a lively Latin spot that recently got three stars from The Seattle Times.

Keff met Roxsand Scocos a little over a year ago, the night they both collected Beard Awards (Keff for American Express Best Chef: Northwest/Hawaii; Scocos for Best Chef: Southwest). Like Keff, Scocos likes to borrow flavors from around the globe. "We can't avoid being influenced by our neighbors," she says. "Perhaps fusion cuisine is the first step toward a cross-cultural Brave New World." Her philosophy is evident in dishes like her curried rice tamale with Thai peanut sauce and her Chilean sea bass with sorrel and Romescu sauce. Scocos's eponymous RoxSand, in Phoenix, has been open for 12 years and in that time has received kudos from virtually every major food publication in America. Food & Wine has listed the place among the nation's top restaurants; Gourmet has written about it on several occasions, bestowing an America's Top Table award three years running. RoxSand has also merited numerous flattering articles in USA Today, Esquire, and Bon Appètit.

Fusion cuisine gets a bad rap at times, but after attending this singular Friends of James Beard Benefit, naysayers will gladly eat their words. Brave New World, here we come.