The North Fork’s culinary opulence and vibrant wine culture is on the table at the ongoing Chefs Against Hunger Dinner Series at Tellers Next Door.
Islip’s Tellers: An American Chophouse and Bohlsen Restaurant Group organized the event, featuring the best of the best food and drinks in five-course tasting menus for eight evenings of events.
Local North Fork and Shelter Island chefs and winemakers have already made their way west serving menus that satiate charitable diners, and there are still multiple event dates to come with 100% of proceeds going toward Long Island Cares, The Harry Chapin Regional Food Bank.
On Nov. 3, RGNY will provide wines to be paired with 317 Main Street chef and owner Eric LeVine’s menu.
“It’s just exciting for us to be part of something that becomes a bigger effort in totality,” says RGNY hospitality director Courtney Fitt.
Next on the docket is the Nov. 4 evening of food from Louie’s Prime Steak & Seafood paired with Bedell Cellars wine.
Chef Armond Joseph from Léon 1909 on Shelter Island will take over the Tellers Next Door Kitchen on Nov. 10, serving a seasonal menu of North Fork delicacies. The small seating of just 30 people for each evening is his dream, he says. The most important part to him, however, is the cause.
“It’s something that’s close to my heart personally,” says Joseph. “I’m Palestinian, so especially recently, I’ve witnessed a lot of my people starving.”
Channing Daughters, a South Fork vineyard and winery, will come out to accompany his dishes.
On Nov. 11, Tellers Next Door gets another taste of the North Fork as The Halyard culinary director Francis Derby will bring out some local oysters, meatballs made with North Fork cattle and a fettuccini featuring Mattituck Mushrooms.
“For us, it’s a great opportunity to reach some folks in the off-season that we might not usually see all the way out here,” says Derby. “We are staying true to what we do.”
Miguel Martin, general manager at McCall Wines, the Halyard’s pairing partner for the evening; Anthony Nappa, winemaker at Anthony Nappa Wines; Julia Petrocelli-Vergari, special event coordinator at Raphael; and Kareem Massoud, winemaker at Palmer Vineyard, who all poured out support for installments of the series, shared the same notion — that they were happy to support the food bank in whatever way possible.
North Fork Table & Inn chef and owner John Fraser had heard of the organization in 2018 and hoped to get involved. He and his team served East End-inspired dishes, including duck tots, a 2-mile salad, Mecox Bay Farm filet and North Fork pavlova to kick off the series on Oct. 6.
“I love that this event brings together so many talented Long Island chefs, restaurants and wineries to cook for a greater cause” says Fraser. “It connects community, food and purpose in such an authentic way.”
Macari Vineyards provided wine pairings for the evening, like Macari’s sparkling pét-nat and sauvignon blanc.
“You could pick a really cheap wine or a cheap food to do this, but to really bring out our best of what we do and bring it out for the general public for a good cause was really what was special about the night,” says Gibson Campbell, Macari’s sales and tasting room manager.
For more information about the series and to reserve a seat at an upcoming evening, click here.
