Chef And Menu Report: Week Of 10/19/14

National
Following their victory on last Friday night's episode of TNT's new cooking competition series On the Menu, California Pizza Kitchen is now serving the winning Korean barbecue pizza in participating restaurants nationwide. Additionally, one dollar from every sale of the special pizza will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation as part of California Pizza Kitchen's Inspired Acts corporate giving program.

New York
On Wednesday, October 29, St. Mazie Bar & Supper Club of Williamsburg will serve a prix fixe meal while screening silent film and horror genre pioneer The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari in its cellar Supper Club while a full band performs an original score by gypsy swing artist, Alex Simon. The menu for the night will include a choice of soup or salad, roasted Dijon chicken, fennel-scented porchetta, or vegetarian pasta for the entrées, a dessert, and a specialty cocktail.  The three-course meal, one signature cocktail, screening, and live performance will cost $40 and reservations are required. 

BKLYN Larder — the Brooklyn cheese and provisions shop from the owners of franny's and Marco's — have debuted their Cheese Collections and Club, available for shipping nationwide. In addition to their recently revamped Gift Boxes, you can now purchase a curated selection of cheeses from around the world based on types or terroir. There's also a 3-, 6-, or 12-month subscription that will deliver newly discovered, seasonal cheeses to your door every month. The mongers at BKLYN Larder will select three cheeses at their peak to be shipped every first Tuesday of the month, and all items are cut fresh to order, and include free two-day shipping.

Gotham Bar and Grill's pastry chef Ron Paprocki has brought the tarte Tatin back to the restaurant's menu, using Braeburn apples, which he says remain firm but tender in the cooking process, and hold the right amount of water so that they caramelize well. The tarte is presented in a copper Mauviel pan and taken back to the kitchen to be divided into two portions and served with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.

Chef Marc Forgione is now serving a new bar menu at American Cut, located in Tribeca. Expect Shishito peppers, dry-aged Wagyu sliders, and popcorn shrimp. Forgione designed the shared plates with the cocktail menu in mind, which includes a Chilean pisco sour, Barolo barrel "Negroni," and a poached fig margarita, among others.

Park Avenue Autumn will now serve Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The $32 prix-fixe menu begins with warm cinnamon monkey rolls with cinnamon-rosemary caramel, salt-roasted pecans, and rum raisins. Guests can then choose from appetizers such as fig carpaccio with smoked almonds and Vermont goat cheese, smoked salmon bucatini with wasabi caviar and crème fraîche, and Maple Hill Creamery grass-fed yogurt with Andrew's NYC honey and homemade granola. Main course options include the Park Avenue oeuf mollets with polenta, robiola, and truffles, a breakfast risotto served with a sunny-side-up egg and English muffin croutons, and a buckwheat pancake soufflé with Granny Smith apple confit and spiced crème. Cocktails like the Autumn Smoked Mary ($16) with homemade bloody Mary mix topped with Aecht Schlenkerla smoked beer, and pitchers of their popular Loose Cannon ($16/$40) cocktail will also be available, as will be a build your own Bellini bar ($9).

There's a whole lot happening at Root & Bone this fall. The restaurant will begin serving brunch on Wednesday through Friday, in addition to on the weekends, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. They have also added seasonal dishes to the menu, some of which are rainbow beet and roots salad with ricotta crème, citrus, tart apple, watercress, smoky candied pecans, and roasted pumpkin soup with kohlrabi root, pumpkin seeds, buttermilk crème, and grilled sourdough toast. Maura McGuigan, formerly of Booker and Dax and The Rose, as joined the team as general manager and beverage director, and Romina Peixoto, formerly of Le Cirque, Gilt, Eleven Madison Park, and Fishtail is the celebrated new pastry chef at the restaurant. Stop in to taste some of McGuigan's new cocktails or take in the live music they will now host every Friday and Saturday evening.

Diwali, a five-day festival celebrating the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, is one of India's biggest holidays. To celebrate, the chef and owner Gaurav Anand of the recently opened Awadh restaurant has designed a special multi-course Diwali feast ($60 per person) available from through Sunday, October 26 by reservation only. Guests will have a choice of appetizers including Dora kebab (lamb), and a vegetable version of Gaurav Anand's Galouti kebabs, along with entrées such as Tawey Ki Chaap (lamb chops with goat sauce), Shahi Musullam (fish or shrimp with saffron sauce), and Palak Key Koftey (vegetable and spinach dumplings in chef's special sauce). Each main dish will be accompanied by two sides: Daal Panchmel (five lentils cooked Dum Pukht style) and either goat Biryani or Mirch Ka Salaan (vegetarian chili peppers), and a choice of breads.

Dim Sum Brunch is back at Joseph Leonard on Saturday, October 25 and Sunday, October 26. Stop by between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. for a special brunch menu of Chinese-inspired dishes like sesame noodles, fried chicken Bao, short rib dumplings, and broccoli beef; Kimchee Bloody Marys will also be available.

Norfolk, Va.
The seventh-annual Bizarre Foods Dinner at Bardo is an eight-course meal, full of creepy creatures prepared in a gourmet fashion. First there will be wasabi-flavored whole-cricket "popcorn," while the fourth course features house-made python and rattlesnake bratwurst with caramelized onions and meal worms with sea lettuce kraut and spicy mustard. Each dish is accompanied by an equally bizarre cocktail, and for dessert, attendees will indulge in a pumpkin gingerbread pudding —made with cricket flour, of course. The dinner will take place on Sunday, November 2, and reservations can be made by ringing the restaurant.

Los Angeles
LUCQUES, the flagship restaurant owned by Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne, presents a special Sunday Supper inspired by French Roots: Two Cooks, Two Countries, and the Beautiful Food along the Way, the new cookbook by Jean-Pierre and Denise Moullé. Suzanne Goin and Jean-Pierre Moullé worked together at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, early in her career. On Sunday, Goin and Styne will present a four-course menu of grilled scallop skewers with pancetta and herb butter, winter squash soup with toasted sesame seeds and comté croutons, stuffed pork loin with prunes and roasted apples, and a classic Ile Flottante for dessert. Pricing for the dinner is $55 per guest for the menu only and reservations are required. Lucques will offer optional French wine pairings from specialty producers selected by Caroline Styne, and Jean-Pierre and Denise Mouleé will be present to meet guests and sign books, which will be available for purchase for $35.

Kate Kolenda is the Restaurant and City Guide Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @BeefWerky and @theconversant.