Orlando has so many food events that I post about only a fraction, and of those a mere few turn to be spectacular in terms of food, drink and ambiance. I am betting that Women in the Kitchen: A Celebration at Lake Meadow will make the cut -- so much so that I bought a ticket myself. Please join me and dine alfresco with all-star female Florida chefs.
Women in the Kitchen: A Celebration at Lake Meadow will look similar to this -- a previous open-air event at the chicken farm.
This is quite the endeavor. Led by locavore-chef Kathleen Blake of Orlando gastropub The Rusty Spoon -- long a champion and connector of women culinarians -- this dinner will involve 10 female Florida chefs and restaurateurs, all of them sufficiently renowned that in-the-know eaters are eager to try their food if they haven't already. Every chef participating has been nominated for a prestigious James Beard Foundation award, and some have won. Blake herself has been nominated for a regional award four times so far.
Chef Kathleen Blake, left, with her mentor, Chef Joyce Goldstein of San Francisco's Square One and the California Street Cooking School
The chefs will collaborate to create a four-course dinner, which will be served in the open air on the green grass of Lake Meadow Naturals, where eggs of the same name are produced. Even the entertainment is XX-positive: roots singer Beth McKee will perform.
Proceeds from this alfresco dinner with all-star Florida female chefs will benefit the James Beard Foundation's Women Entrepreneur Leadership Program, which supports women trying to make their way through a male-dominated industry.
Here's a list of the accomplished ladies who'll be at Blake's side feeding guests at Women in the Kitchen: A Celebration at Lake Meadow:
Paula DaSilva (Artisan Beach House, Miami)
Katharine Elder (Elderslie Farm, Bramble Café, Valley Center)
Adrienne Grenier (3030 Ocean, Fort Lauderdale)
Melissa Kelly (Primo, Rockland), whose Primo has an outpost here in Orlando
Emily Luchetti (The Cavalier, Leo's Oyster Bar, Marlowe, and The Park Tavern, San Francisco)
Whitney Otawka (Cumberland Island)
Jennifer Puccio (Marlowe, Park Tavern, The Cavalier, San Francisco)
Anne Quatrano (Bacchanalia, Star Provisions, Floataway Cafe, Little Bacch, W.H. Stiles Fish Camp, SUMMERLAND, Atlanta)
Gloriann Rivera (1921 by Norman Van Aken, Mount Dora), who is in the kitchen of Central Florida's 1921 by Norman Van Aken
What you need to know to dine alfresco with all-star female Florida chefs:
WHEN: Sunday, April 23, 2017, 3pm to 6:30pm
WHERE: Lake Meadow Naturals, 10000 Mark Adam Road, Ocoee
PRICE: $150
Reservations: Click here
I hope to see you there. Girl power and great food. That's a winning combo.