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.

This is a post by N&O restaurant critic Greg Cox:

Nobody enjoys a good wine dinner more than I do, but there are simply too many of them nowadays to post them all here. This one's special, for a couple of reasons.
First, it's at Mateo (109 W. Chapel Hill St., Durham; 919-530-8700; mateotapas.com).

Second, the tasting will pair Mateo's primo tapas with sherries, including a few rarities you won't likely get your hands on otherwise, in a session conducted by world-renowned expert Peter Liem.

The dinner costs $80, and will start at 7 p.m. on Saturday March 30. Call the restaurant for reservations - the sooner the better, given that Mateo's the hottest ticket in Durham even when there isn't a special event going on.

If for some reason you can't make that hour, all is not lost. Just up the street, Liem will be at at Cave Taureau Wines from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. for a book signing and tasting of sherries (and maybe a little champagne).

Send restaurant news to Greg at ggcox@bellsouth.net. Be sure to tune in to Greg's radio show at 11 a.m. Saturdays on WPTF.

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.

Southern Living magazine is running a contest to let readers decide the "Tastiest Town in the South." Right now, Durham is in the lead with Memphis right beside. For much of the voting, it was between Durham and Asheville.

That dead heat convinced chef Justin Rakes to organize a dinner featuring chefs from both North Carolina towns. At 7 p.m. Sunday at Durham's Four Square Restaurant, diners can enjoy a six-course meal prepared by these chefs:

• Jacob Sessoms of Table in Asheville.
• Brian Canipelli of Cucina 24 in Asheville.
• Justin Rakes and Scott Martin of soon to open Salted Pig (Rakes is the former chef de cuisine at Four Square. Rakes is being tight-lipped at the moment about his next venture, the Salted Pig, but I will share details as I learn them.)
• Matt Kelly of Mateo in Durham.
• Shane Ingram of Four Square in Durham.

Tickets cost $75 per person. Wine pairings will be made available by Four Square
Sommelier Brandon Carr. Reservations can be made online at opentable.comor by phone 919-401-9877.

Be sure to cast your vote for your favorite Southern town. Voting ends Feb. 28. To vote, go HERE.

Go HERE to read last week's review.