The James Beard Foundation's Taste America Tour Heads To Seattle

The James Beard Foundation's Taste America tour, which teams James Beard Award-winning all-star chefs with local chefs in each host city for an unforgettable night of dining, has set its sights on the Emerald City.

On Friday, Oct. 13, the tour will make a stop in Seattle at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.

The benefit dinner will kick off at 6:30 p.m. with a cocktail and tasting reception featuring a bevy of offerings from local chefs, including Josh Henderson (Huxley Wallace Collective), Nathan Lockwood (Altura), Maximillian Petty (Eden Hill), Holly Smith (Cafe Juanita), and Rachel Yang (Joule, Revel, Trove, Revelry).

Following the reception, guests will enjoy a menu created by the evening's All-Star, JBF Award winner Ashley Christensen (Poole's Diner), in collaboration with the lineup of featured Seattle chefs. Christensen, who took home the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2014, hails from Raleigh, North Carolina, and has competed on Iron Chef America.

Host chef Paul Shewchuk of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel will craft a salad with Newaukum Valley Farm baby beets, Humboldt Fog goat cheese, red ribbon sorrel, sunflower, quinoa granola, and noble vinegar. As the event's local star, James Beard Award-winning Seattle chef Matt Dillon (Sitka & Spruce, Ferdinand, The London Plane) will showcase his signature flair for foraged fare with a dish incorporating the King of Boletes mushroom alongside Maldives tuna and caramelized butter. And for dessert, Canlis pastry chef Baruch Ellsworth will concoct a confection with chocolate, tobacco, walnuts, and caramel.

Tickets, which start at $275, can be purchased online. Proceeds will benefit the James Beard Foundation, which aims to "celebrate, nurture, and honor chefs and other leaders making America's food culture more delicious, diverse, and sustainable for everyone."

On Saturday, Oct. 14, the tour will also host free, open to the public cooking demonstrations with Matt Dillon and Rachel Yang at Sur La Table in Kirkland, along with a signing for Yang's cookbook, My Rice Bowl. Reservations can be made in advance online beginning on Friday, Sept. 29.