“Top Chef” contestant Edward Lee is coming to Fearrington Village to promote his cookbook, “Smoke & Pickles.”

At 6 p.m. June 5, Fearrington is hosting a barbecue picnic dinner with Lee as a special guest. This is part of McIntyre’s Books’ “Books and Cooks” series of events.

Lee is the chef and owner of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Ky, a three-time finalist for best chef in the Southeast from the James Beard Foundation and was a contestant on the 2012 season of Bravo’s “Top Chef.” Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen will introduce Lee at the event.

Tickets cost $85 for the meal, a tasting of beer and an autographed copy of Lee’s book.

The event’s menu includes recipes from Lee’s cookbook: pulled lamb barbecue, lime beef salad, adobo-fried chicken and waffles, pork ribs and sauerkraut with horseradish, rice bowl with tuna, pork rinds and jalapeno remoulade sides, green tomato kimchi, soft grits, bourbon ginger glazed carrots, fried green tomato and cilantro relish, bacon candy and curried cashews, fried pickles, kimchi poutine, whiskey ginger cake with pear salad and a coconut rice pudding brulee.

Call 919-542-3030 to reserve tickets.

Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen is hosting another series of Stir the Pot events next May 19 and May 20.

On Sunday, May 19, guest chef Steven Satterfield of Atlanta's Miller Union and Christensen will be cooking up a five-course meal with wine pairings at her flagship restaurant, Poole's Diner. The meal starts at 7 p.m. and costs $150 per person.

On Monday, May 20, Christensen is hosting a potluck and film screening at CAM Raleigh, the contemporary art and design museum at 409 W. Martin St. Tickets cost $35. Guests are asked to bring a side dish or a dessert to share. Special guest and filmmaker Joe York will be on hand to show his work.

The events benefit Southern Foodways Alliance's documentary film projects. Tickets for both events are available at stirthepotluck.com.

Durham's The Cookery is hosting a fundraising dinner later this month for Pet-Tich-Eye, a collaboration between Triangle musicians, artists and photographers that will produce a 10-song record and a 24-page art book.

Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen, a James Beard finalist for best chef in the southeast, has organized the April 21 event. Among those cooking will be Christensen, who owns Poole's Diner, Chuck's and Beasley's Chicken + Honey in Raleigh, one of Matt Kelly's chefs at Mateo in Durham, Billy Cotter of Toast in Durham, Mike Hacker of the Pie Pushers food truck, Gray Brooks of Pizzeria Toro in Durham, Cheetie Kumar of the soon-to-open Garland in Raleigh, Sam Ratto of Videri Chocolate in Raleigh. (The event is being organized by Heather Cook of Shindigs. Cook is an event planner who helps plan weddings to fundraisers.)

UPDATED: Tickets were originally available via Pet-Tich-Eye's kickstarter page, which has since closed. The remaining tickets, which costs $85, will be for sale Wednesday (4/3) morning at goo.gl/XTcgo . (The link will not work until Wednesday morning when the page is no longer private.)

The Pet-Tich-Eye project has musicians work in groups of three to create original songs, artists create album art and photographers document the recording process. Ten community organizations, including Farmer Foodshare and the Frankie Lemmon school, will receive $1 from each single and record sold. The record will be released April 20.

To download the record, go to petticheye.com. To purchase the vinyl record and the art book, those will be available at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh, Bull City Records in Durham, All Day Records in Carrboro and CD Alley in Chapel Hill.

Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen is one of five finalists for a James Beard award: Best Chef in the Southeast. Go HERE to read the entire list.

Christensen is the only North Carolina chef to be a finalist. More than a dozen chefs, restaurants and beverage professionals with N.C. ties were among the semifinalists. Go HERE to see my earlier post.

Christensen is traveling today and so far has been unavailable for a reaction. Although she tweeted: "Pretty much in tears right now. Wow."

The other finalists include Edward Lee, Joseph Lenn, Steven Satterfield and Tandy Wilson.

Christensen owns Poole's Diner, Beasley's Chicken + Honey, Chucks and Fox Liquor Bar. She also recently took over the closed Wilmoore Cafe and has another restaurant project in the works. For information about her restaurants, go to ac-restaurants.com.

The James Beard Foundation is a nonprofit that recognizes excellence among chefs, restaurants, food journalism and cookbook authors. James Beard was a cookbook author and champion of regional American food. The foundation was created after his death and now hands out what are considered the "Oscars" of the food world.

Here are a couple interesting wine dinners in Raleigh on Monday:

• Raleigh's Sitti restaurant is hosting a four-course traditional Lebanese family dinner with wine pairings at 7:30 p.m. Monday.
  Chateau Musar winery co-owner Mark Hochar will be at the dinner. Chateau Musar is a family-owned winery just over the mountains from Beirut in the Bekaa Valley. The dinner costs $75 per person. For a reservation, call 919-239-4070.
  The restaurant is at 137 S. Wilmington St. Information: sitti-raleigh.com
  .
• Also on Monday night, Raleigh's Poole's dinner is offering a five-course dinner featuring wines from the Matteo Correggia winery in Italy.
  Sara Palma, the winery's export manager, will be on hand at the dinner, which starts at 7 p.m. Matteo Correggia is a family-owned winery in Italy's Roero hills and known for its Nebbiolo, Barbera and Arneis wines. The wines will be available for retail purchase during the event.
  For reservations, call 919-832-4477. The restaurant is at 426 S McDowell St. Information: poolesdowntowndiner.com.

The James Beard Foundation's list of restaurant and chef award semifinalists was just released and there was a strong showing from the Triangle and the entire state.

• Durham's Mateo Tapas is a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant.
• Phoebe Lawless of Scratch Bakery in Durham is a semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef.
• Lantern Restaurant in Chapel Hill is a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant. (Owner and chef Andrea Reusing won a James Beard award for Best Chef Southeast in 2011.)
• Angus Barn in Raleigh is a semifinalist for Outstanding Wine Program.
• Sean Lilly Wilson of Durham's Fullsteam brewery and Eric Solomon of European Cellars in Charlotte are semifinalists for outstanding wine, spirits or beer professional.
• Katie Button of Curate in Asheville is a semifinalist for Rising Star Chef of the Year.
• The semifinalists for Best Chef Southeast are Ashley Christensen of Raleigh's Poole's Diner among other restaurants; Scott Crawford of Herons at the Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary; Vivian Howard of Chef & the Farmer in Kinston; Scott Howell of Nana's in Durham, Elliot Moss of The Admiral in Asheville; and Aaron Vandemark of Panciuto in Hillsborough.

To see the list of all the semifinalist nominees, go to jamesbeard.org/awards

The semifinalist nominees will be narrowed to finalists and those will be announced March 18 at a press conference in Charleston, S.C. The winner will be announced May 6 at a gala reception in New York City.

This how the awards work: The foundation puts out a call for nominations in the fall and this year more than 44,000 entries were received. A committee narrows the entrees to a list of semifinalists in each category. Then more than 600 judges across the country -- regional restaurant critics, food and wine editors, culinary educators and past James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Award winners -- vote for the five finalists and then choose a winner in each category.

The James Beard Foundation is a nonprofit that recognizes excellence in the culinary field from chefs and restaurants to journalists and cookbook authors. James Beard was a television personality and food writer who championed regional American cuisine. The foundation was created by his friends after his death in 1985.

Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen has bought the Wilmoore Cafe, a coffeehouse and sandwich shop owned by David Fowle, a longtime fixture in the Raleigh coffee scene.

The Wilmoore Cafe will stay open until next Friday. Christensen says she will close the restaurant for about six weeks and reopen sometime in March. She plans to keep it as a coffee shop but expand the hours to seven days a week and into the evening. She will offer an expanded menu and a beer, wine and cocktail list. She plans to change the name.

"We're excited," Christensen said Tuesday morning.

Fowle, who owned a coffee shop downtown in the 1990s, explained that his expertise is serving coffee to the business crowd during the week. That business had grown steadily at the Wilmoore Cafe, Fowle said.

But Fowle said Tuesday: "Here's the rub: The property is too valuable to not do nights and weekends. I don't have the expertise, energy or bandwidth to do it properly."

But Christensen does, Fowle said.

"She recognizes what a jewel and potential jewel this place can be," he said.

The deal signed Monday happened organically. Commercial real estate agent Carter Worthy is Fowle's cousin and works with Christensen, who also rents space on the second floor of the building that is home to the Wilmoore Cafe. Christensen was looking at other downtown opportunities and Fowle and Worthy were discussing how to best expand the Wilmoore Cafe into nights and weekends.

"She made an offer we couldn't refuse," Fowle said.

With this purchase, Christensen expands her reach north along Wilmington Street. She already owns Chuck's, a burger joint, Beasley's Chicken + Honey, a fried chicken spot, and Fox Liquor Bar. All three are located in the same building at the corner of Wilmington and Martin streets in downtown Raleigh. She also owns Poole's Diner, a finer dining spot, on South McDowell St.

Fowle said he is going to enjoy his time off, take his teenage daughter on some college visits and then get a job.

(Get over there before next Friday to say goodbye to Fowle and be sure to buy one of his chocolate chip cookies. I consider them to be the best in the Triangle.)

Go HERE to read my story in today's Weekend section about local chefs serving up burgers, fried chicken, fried and grilled seafood, doughnuts, pizza and biscuits.

Chef Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham is shown above.

Here's good news for two local restaurants:

The Daily Beast named Herons at The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary as one of the 101 best restaurants in the world, based on a survey of 55 chefs. Here's what chef Hugh Acheson had to say: "What's not absolutely absorbing about this: seared sea trout, smoked pineapple, purple yam purée, cashew cabbage, fermented pepper. Chef Scott Crawford is awesome--a really skilled guy. The man is bringing together everything and making it work."

And chef Ashley Christensen's Beasley's Chicken + Honey was named one of the 50 best new restaurants in 2012 by Bon Appetit. Go HERE to see that list.

And if you missed it, Atlanta Journal-Constitution restaurant critic John Kessler blogged about eating at Christensen's restaurants in Raleigh. Go HERE to read that piece.

Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen of Poole's Diner is hosting two fundraisers for the Southern Foodways Alliance featuring pitmaster Pat Martin of Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint in Nolensville, Tenn.

On July 29, Christensen will host a five-course meal with wine pairings featuring Martin's food: his notorious Redneck Taco (pulled pork atop a hoecake), deviled eggs, candied and smoked pork belly, frog legs, pickles and coconut cake. The dinner starts at 7 p.m. and costs $150 per person.

On July 30, Christensen will host a 6 p.m. potluck at her home for folks in the food industry. It costs $35.

For more information about the dinner and to reserve a ticket, go to www.stirthepotluck.com.

The Southern Foodways Alliance is a nonprofit based at the University of Mississippi that documents, celebrates and studies Southern food traditions.