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 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.
 

An all-star lineup of chefs will be serving up a special fundraising dinner in Raleigh to benefit Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign to end childhood hunger.

The chefs include: John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, MI; Alon Shaya of Domenica in New Orleans; Ryan Smith of Empire State South in Atlanta; Tandy Wilson of City House in Nashville; Andrea Reusing of Lantern in Chapel Hill and Anthony Guerra of Bella Mia in Cary.

Chef Ashley Christensen is hosting the event at her restaurant, Poole's Diner, in Raleigh at 6 p.m. July 23. Diners can pay $3,000 for a table of 10, $1,000 for a table of four or $175 for an individual reservation.

To purchase tickets, go to http://ce.strength.org/events/no-kid-hungry-dinner-raleigh.

To learn more about Share Our Strength, go to http://www.strength.org/.
 

The semifinalists for the annual James Beard Foundation awards were announced this morning. Among the North Carolina folks recognized:

• Sean Lilly Wilson, Fullsteam Brewery in Durham and Eric Solomon of Eric Solomon Selections European Cellars in Charlotte for outstanding wine and spirits professional.
• Katie Button of Cúrate in Asheville for Rising Star Chef.
• And among those considered for Best Chef Southeast: Ashley Christensen of Poole's in Raleigh; John Fleer of Canyon Kitchen at Lonesome Valley in Cashiers; Vivian Howard of Chef & the Farmer in Kinston; Scott Howell of Nana's in Durham; and Aaron Vandemark of Panciuto in Hillsborough. 
• Magnolia Grill in Durham for Outstanding Restaurant.

The James Beard awards are considered the Oscars of the food world. Only three North Carolina chefs have received James Beard awards: Ben Barker and Karen Barker at Magnolia Grill and Andrea Reusing of Lantern in Chapel Hill.

The finalists will be announced 11 a.m. March 19. The winners will be announced May 7 at a gala in New York City.

Just in case, this restaurant opening flew under the radar, chef Ashley Christensen's burger joint called Chuck's opened last Thursday. I went there for lunch Monday and the crowd was sort of sparse.

Chuck's is one of the three enterprises Christensen of Poole's Diner opened at 237 S.  Wilmington Street: a fried chicken restaurant called Beasley's Chicken + Honey and a basement bar called Fox Liquor Bar.

If you like a thick, juicy hamburger, then you'll probably be a fan of this place. The burgers (half-pound, house-ground 100% chuck meat on a potato roll) cost $9 a piece and a half-pound of Belgian fries cost $4. One word of advice: the burgers are so big, you should split the fries with two or more people depending upon how hungry you are.

The hours for Chuck's are 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.-midnight, Thursday-Saturday. (The same hours as Beasley's.)

I've uploaded a copy of the menu below.

Documents:

Wild foods expert Hank Shaw is coming to Raleigh on a tour to promote his new book, "Hunt Gather Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast."

Shaw, the James Beard Foundation award-nominated blogger, will be the guest of honor at a four-course dinner at Raleigh's Poole's Diner on Tuesday, Sept. 13. The cost is $45. Diners may get to enjoy Shaw's catch from a fishing trip out of Wanchese, N.C. a few days before the dinner. For a reservation, call 832-4477.

His blog called Hunter Angler Gardener Cook has twice been nominated for a James Beard award and won an IACP award for best blog.

I'll share an interview with Shaw in next Wednesday's food section.