FRANKFORT, Ky. (December 2, 2009) – First Lady Jane Beshear today applauded the James Beard Foundation for partnering with the Kentucky Horse Park and the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games for Cookin’ in the Bluegrass: A Celebrity Chef Dinner Series. The series will coincide with the 16 nights of the World Equestrian Games and will feature Kentucky Proud products.

America’s leading chefs are partnering with the world’s most prestigious equestrian competition to showcase the country’s rich culinary heritage. Cookin’ in the Bluegrass will occur each night from Sept. 25-Oct.10, 2010 in Lexington, Ky. as the Kentucky Horse Park hosts the world championships in eight equestrian sports.

“Cookin’ in the Bluegrass will provide guests from around the world an opportunity to experience the best Kentucky Proud products the Commonwealth has to offer and delicious meals prepared by well-known celebrity and local chefs,” said Mrs. Beshear. “We are very excited about this partnership with the James Beard Foundation.”

Each dinner will feature two celebrity chefs and one Kentucky-based chef cooking side-by-side at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Farmhouse restaurant. Each night, 80 guests will enjoy dining experiences that replicate the sumptuous dinners held at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City.

The Kentucky Proud Program (funded in part by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund and administered by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture) will sponsor this once-in-a-lifetime culinary event by facilitating the use of fresh, local ingredients each night of Cookin’ in the Bluegrass. The Kentucky Proud Program is dedicated to marketing Kentucky-made or Kentucky-grown food products. Kentucky Proud represents an array of products – from heirloom produce and handmade cheeses to craft beers, fine distilled spirits and award-winning meats – that are distributed locally, throughout the United States and around the globe.

“Great Kentucky chefs have prepared highly acclaimed Kentucky Proud dinners at the James Beard House in the past,” Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer noted. “This celebrity chef series is another chapter in that long-standing relationship. Visitors to the World Equestrian Games will find out what we already know – that nothing else comes close to the taste of Kentucky Proud. I am grateful to the James Beard Foundation for this opportunity.”

Tickets will be available for purchase in early 2010 by clicking here. Unfortunately, prices haven’t yet been set.

He’ll build a Cardinal cake beginning at 7:00 P.M. at the Student Activities Center, Multipurpose Room. According to a press release, Manthorne will also answer questions and meet with students and the public.

The event is free for UofL students with a valid ID and $10 for the general public.

You feeling cakey? We are.

In Velocity, reviewer Marty Rosen has an interesting take on the city’s restaurant reputation. He gives five reasons — both good and bad — on the ‘Ville’s charms as a restaurant town. Intriguing premise.

It’s hard to take issue with the good reasons — local chef camaraderie, the chef pipeline from Sullivan’s culinary arts program, the abundance and availability of local ingredients, the broad and tasty selection of ethnic and immigrant foods, and the absence of a major league sports franchise to suck up disposable income.

But Rosen’s reasoning against the city as a restaurant town sound pretty sketchy.  Two of them are legitimate—there is a shamefully low number of disability-accessible restaurants, and parts of the city are peppered with dining dead-zones—and hurt Louisville’s case for restaurant greatness.

The other three are ridiculous, though.  Rosen claims that there are still voids that need to be filled with Greek, deli-style, and Italian foods, an argument that seems kind of weak in light of one of the reasons why we’re good. Not enough street vendors?  That’s apparently another disqualifier, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. The fifth, and silliest, is that Anthony Bourdain would have nowhere to go to find authentic Louisville cuisine.

What?  Why should Louisville restaurants try to pigeonhole themselves for some Travel Channel slickster who can’t hold his liquor?  What would they cook, anyway?

Is there a quintessential Louisville dish?  No, because Louisville itself is an agglomeration of a number of forces that are all pretty comfortable with each other.  We’re not exotic enough for Bourdain, but is there anything wrong with that?

John LaFollette is a Louisville writer.

Flay does have a connection with the Derby — if nothing more than he’s a known fan of the big event. Two weeks ago, he appeared on NBC’s Today Show touting Kentucky Derby recipes, including the basic Mint Julep and a dish “All You Can Eat Shrimp with Green Onion, Garlic, and BBQ Spices.”

Flay is also a horse owner, and he’ll be busy during his time in town as Churchill Downs’ official host of something new, called Kentucky Derby Party. Now, we’re tempted to say this new deal is just an attempt to sell more Derby merchandise, but maybe, just maybe, there’s more. If you’re hosting a party, it’ll have tips, recipes and, oh, yes, instructions for ordering stuff. Like, you know, official swizzle sticks.

Anoosh Shariat, former executive chef at Park Place on Main, plans to open a new restaurant in Louisville.

A spokeswoman said Shariat, who also runs a catering company, is looking at locations and hopes to open by the end of the year.

By the way, we’re all looking forward to seeing what’s next for Anoosh, and we’re hoping his new idea turns up near us.

Bristol Bar & Grille opening in Jeff on Friday: Southern Indiana will get its first Bristol Bar & Grille on Friday, when the Jeffersonville location (700 W. Riverside Drive) opens for business. Executive chef Richard Doering, a veteran of Louisville Marriott East and 211 Clover Lane, will oversee the kitchen, and Scott Harper will manage the restaurant.

Additionally, a Business First report said Bristol also is launching a podcast at its Web site to teach customers more about wines. In the wake of its popular price slashing effort (the restaurant lowered prices to market rates this year), Harper, who also is the chain’s wine director, has added the podcast to help familiarize diners with the myriad vino options available. Even if you don’t own an iPod, you can watch all Harper’s videos on your computer.

Chef Robert Irvine canned by Food Network: It appears “Dinner Impossible” chef Robert Irvine was more challenged to tell the truth about his resume than he was cooking some of his outrageous—and at least partially staged, I always claimed—meals in strange environs. When the Food Network discovered he’d lied about making the wedding cake for the prince and princess of Wales, being knighted and cooking for a series of U.S. presidents, it canned the cocky Brit and pulled the plug on new production of his goofy, “surreality” show last month. (Reruns will continue.) Though a real prince compared to uber-tool Gordon “Hell’s Kitchen” Ramsay, I always thought he was a first rate jerk. Off to the rubbish heap with you, Robert.

As Martha’s new boy—and don’t think she won’t jump at the opportunity to remind him who’s now the boss—Emeril turns over all rights to his cooking shows, books and cookware. Let’s hope is soul didn’t come with the deal, too.

Two observations: Though I’m among those who tired quickly of “Emeril Live’s” theatrics-over-cooking format, surely Food Network could have done something to keep him around (he still does “Essence of Emeril,” but that show never gets prime spots). The dude’s a goldmine, but Food Network has turned its focus onto big boobs and babes rather than brioche, and some of the old guard chefs are going away in the process.

Secondly, this proves Stewart’s shrewdness as a business woman. In a New York Times business blog, she said, “His tastes are very different from mine, as is his food, and I think that’s good. Being complementary and different is better than being competitive.”

Methinks Food Network will long regret having let Bam Boy go.

Evans was the first African-American graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., in 1947.

“It’s very gratifying … and my biggest (one) because it’s a national award,” said the ever-humble Looi. “That somebody from a smaller city, which is not a national dining destination, to be recognized for the work that me and my team from both restaurants have done is incredible.”

The honor places Looi among some of the nation’s best chefs who’ve also received the award, including: Marcus Samuelsson (Aquavit); Douglas Rodriguez (Alma de Cuba and De La Costa); and Robert Okura (Cheesecake Factory)

Looi will receive the award on March 8 during a ceremony at the New York Marriot Marquis Hotel in New York City. The award is presented by the Black Culinarian Alliance, a national non-profit, educational and networking group focused serving hospitality and foodservice professionals.

The ACF is the country’s top trade association and certification body for chefs seeking career achievement and advancement. Suffice it to say, those who know the ACF crowd know they don’t dole out such awards loosely; it’s a hard-to-please crowd. Many of its members are mere drill sergeants in chef’s whites, taskmasters of the highest order, but flat-out food geniuses. To think they lauded Winston’s this way speaks volumes about what’s happening here in the Ville.

Recipients of the award were Executive Chef John Castro (definitely a cool guy, and one I’ve heard some students call their “favorite hard-ass” instructor), who oversees Winston’s, and Tom Hickey, Sullivan’s National Center for Hospitality Studies director. Hickey has been with the program since its inception, and many of its achievements are surely products of his solid, long-term leadership.

Bravo, gang! You’ve done the city proud.

Dean Corbett to cook at Beard house: Chef Dean Corbett has been honored with a request to cook at the James Beard House on March 31 in New York City. For those who might not know the significance of the invitation, the Beard House is a bit like a chefs’ hall of fame, only the ersatz members are still alive and cooking. The honor is a special one. Corbett cooked on a Beard House team several years ago, but with other Louisville restaurant chefs. This year’s trip is all about him and his crews from Corbett’s: An American Place, Equus and Jack’s Lounge.

C-J’s Rosen finds little to like about Cuba Libre: Courier-Journal restaurant critic, Marty Rosen, found little to like about Cuba Libre (702 Highlander Point Drive, Floyd’s Knobs, Ind.) in his weekly review. Long story short: It’s no Havana Rumba. When the big highlights are the décor and the dessert flan, it makes one wonder why the restaurant got the two stars awarded. Judging by his remarks and the drive required to get there, I’m starting a one-man embargo.

Bye Ballyhoo’s, hello Sitar India: Sitar India is the new occupant of a spot vacated some time ago by Ballyhoo’s (1702 Bardstown Road). This is the first Kentucky unit in what is a six-store chain serving a buffet at lunch and full menu at dinner and at modest prices.

The coop is open at Turkey Joe’s: The former Wings-N-Things site at 2809 N. Hurstbourne Pkwy., is open as Turkey Joe’s. Like its predecessor, it’s a sports bar-centered concept featuring burgers and wings, but with the addition of ribs and sandwiches made of deep-fried turkey.Chef and co-owner Charles Starcher, a Sullivan grad with four years under his belt as sous chef at Napa River Grill, oversees the operation.