Here are a few upcoming special dinners and a brunch across the Triangle:

Winston's Grille in North Raleigh has two upcoming special dinners:

• 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 21, a Sierra Nevada beer dinner. The four-course meal with beer pairings costs $44. Go HERE to see the menu on Facebook.
• 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 28, a Wild Horse Winery & Vineyard wine dinner. The four-course meal with wine pairings cost $49.95. The proceeds will benefit the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.Go HERE to see the menu on Facebook.

To make a reservation for either dinner at Winston's Grille, call 919-790-0700.

Chip Smith and Tina Vaughn, former owners of Bonne Soiree in Chapel Hill, will be serving up a special brunch to raise money for The Goathouse Refuge, a no-kill animal shelter in Pittsboro. The shelter was founded by potter Siglanda Scarpa.

The Garden Gourmands Brunch will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, June 23. Diners will have a choice of fish, vegetarian or vegan meals. To see the menus, go HERE. The cost is $100 per person, $350 for a table of four or $500 for a table of six.

To make a reservation, call 919-542-6815.

For more information about the event or the shelter, go to http://www.goathouserefuge.org.
 

Chip Smith, chef at the now-closed Bonne Soiree in Chapel Hill, is returning to the Triangle once a month to cook a Sunday supper at The Inn at Celebrity Dairy in Siler City.

The first one is 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16. The meal includes passed hors d'oeurves, an appetizer, entree and dessert. The meal costs $75 with wine pairings and $50 without wine.

The next two are scheduled for Nov. 13 and Dec. 11. The December event's menu will be a French country Christmas feast.

Space is limited to 36 guests. To make a reservation, call 919-742-5176. For more information, go to www.celebritydairy.com.
 

Stacy Lynn Waddell's Watched Pot column today is about the closing of Bonne Soiree. Chef Chip Smith offered two more recipes. Click READ MORE to see the recipes.

The James Beard Foundation announces its award finalists starting at 2 p.m. today, and seven Triangle chefs will learn if they made the cut.

Among the semifinalists for Best Chef in the Southeast are Andrea Reusing of Lantern in Chapel Hill; Ashley Christensen of Poole's Diner in Raleigh; Aaron Vandemark of Panciuto in Hillsborough; Chip Smith of Bonne Soiree in Chapel Hill; Scott Crawford of Herons at the Umstead Hotel in Cary; Scott Howell of Nana's in Durham; and Shane Ingram of Four Square Restaurant in Durham.

Durham's Magnolia Grill also is a semifinalist in the Outstanding Restaurant category. Its chef-owners Ben and Karen Barker are the state's only James Beard award-winning chefs.

James Beard was a cookbook author, cooking instructor and champion of regional American cuisine. The foundation  honors excellence in restaurants, chefs, wine service professionals, cookbook authors and food journalism.

To follow the announcement live, follow @beardfoundation and #jbfa on Twitter.

The list of James Beard Foundation semifinalists came out today and seven local chefs are on the list for Best Chef Southeast:

• Ashley Christensen, Poole's Diner of Raleigh
• Andrea Reusing, Lantern of Chapel Hill
• Chip Smith, Bonne Soiree in Chapel Hill
• Aaron Vandemark, Panciuto in Hillsborough
• Scott Crawford, Herons at Umstead Hotel in Cary
• Scott Howell, Nana's in Durham
• Shane Ingram, Four Square in Durham

"Nice! When it rains, it pours," said Vandemark, a first-time semifinalist who yesterday learned he was in the running for Food & Wine magazine's People's Choice Best New Chef 2011. (To read about that nomination and to vote for Vandemark, click HERE.)

Smith who has been named as a semifinalist several times before said he tries not to get too worked up about it. "We're just honored to be given a nod," he said.

Several of these chefs have been semifinalists before. This is Christensen's second year. Howell has been a semifinalist many times before. And last year Reusing (pictured left) progressed to finalist, as well as Bill Smith of Crook's Corner, but they lost to Sean Brock of McCrady's in Charleston, S.C.

Two other North Carolina chefs are semifinalists: Keith Rhodes of Catch in Wilmington and John Fleer of Canyon Kitchen at Lonesome Valley in Cashiers, N.C. That means North Carolina chefs made up almost half of the Southeast semifinalists.

The only other North Carolina semifinalist is Eric Solomon of European Cellars in Charlotte for Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional.

These chefs and Solomon will learn on March 21 if they are among the five finalists in their categories. The winners will be announced May 9 at a gala in New York City.

Durham's Magnolia Grill also was nominated in the Outstanding Resturant category. Its chef-owners Ben and Karen Barker are the state's only James Beard award-winning chefs.

James Beard was a cookbook author, a cooking instructor and a champion of regional American cuisine. The Foundation, founded after his death, honors excellence in restaurants, chefs, pastry chefs, wine service professionals, cookbook authors and food journalism. The awards have often been described as the "Oscars of the food world."

The Inn at Celebrity Dairy hosts Sunday afternoon wine dinners about once every month. This Sunday's event features chef Chip Smith and his wife and wine expert Tina Vaughn of Chapel Hill's Bonne Soiree.

The dinner is at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19. The five-course dinner with wine costs $75.

Here is the menu:

• Appetizers and goat cheese sampler.
• House-made pasta with chevre and fig
• Market fish with fennel and celery served with a green tomato coulis
• Pommes de Terre Boulangere (poached in a saffron fish stock)
• Gingerbread shortbread with fresh plum and whipped cream.

For reservations, call 742-5176 or email: theinn [at] celebritydairy.com.

This seems like a good cause so I wanted to mention it again if you are looking for something to do Sunday afternoon. 

REMINDER: Chapel Hill's Bonne Soiree restaurant is hosting a wine tasting from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, June 6, as a fundraiser for the Orange County Rape Crises Center.

Guests can sample wines fit for those hot summer days that will soon be upon us and enjoy light refreshments for $25. All the ticket sales will benefit the center. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

3Cups will be taking orders for any of the wines available for tasting. Bonne Soiree is located at 431 W. Franklin St. Chapel Hill.

Chapel Hill's Bonne Soiree restaurant is hosting a wine tasting from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, June 6, as a fundraiser for the Orange County Rape Crises Center.

Guests can sample wines fit for those hot summer days that will soon be upon us and enjoy light refreshments for $25. All the ticket sales will benefit the center. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

3Cups will be taking orders for any of the wines available for tasting. Bonne Soiree is located at 431 W. Franklin St. Chapel Hill.

Chapel Hill's Bonne Soiree is offering a four-course wine dinner Monday, April 19.

The wines are from Hirsch Vineyard of Sonoma Coast.  The wines being poured include their chardonny and several pinot noirs, including Bohon-Dillon and San Andreas.

Dinner starts at 7 p.m. It costs $125. Call 928-8388 for a reservation.

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED. (Sorry, just got the call at 5 p.m. that their Italian friend cannot travel from Italy.) 

I just got word from Tina Vaughn at Chapel Hill's Bonne Soiree that they are offering a white truffle dinner. Gennaro Villella, the former chef at Il Palio inside the Siena Hotel, is now an importer: much of what he imports are white truffles, aka tuber magnatum pico. 

The four-course meal with appetizers will start at 7 p.m. Dec. 1. It will cost $125 a person or $160 with Italian wine pairings chosen by Vaughn.

Vaughn says not only is Villella selling the truffles at cost for this meal, he will get in the kitchen to cook a course. So chef Chip Smith will cook one course, Villella will cook another course and they will pair up to cook the third course using truffles. 

Two of the course will feature white truffles and one will use the burgundy truffle. The final course will be a dessert sans truffles.

Menu details are still be worked out but  only 25 seats are available. 

To make a reservation, call 928-8388.