Celebrity chefs will visit Wilmington starting next month for a dinner series benefiting the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC).
The Buccini Polin Group’s Rob Buccini says Wilmington restaurants and bars joined the IRC in March 2020. The group is focused on helping independent restaurants and bars affected by the ongoing pandemic.
Buccini says the IRC x Wilmington dinner series will contribute to that effort and bring needed attention to local establishments.
“As we approach bringing on three more restaurants on Market Street in the next few months, we thought it was time to really elevate the visibility of our Wilmington restaurants,” said Buccini.
The series is curated by Wilmington native Tyler Akin, a chef and partner at Le Cavalier at the Hotel du Pont.
“The idea was really to tell the story about how downtown Wilmington is a city of independent restaurants specifically," said Akin. "If you look around here, we’re not swimming in chains or franchises. It’s really mostly owner/operators who are sweating in their restaurants and surviving the pandemic.”
Akin says the series consists of five ticketed, multi-course dinners around Wilmington.
he first is Thursday, December 9 1 at Le Cavalier with celebrity chef Ashley Christensen,the owner of AC Restaurants in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“We’re kicking off on Dec. 9 with Ashley Christiensen, who is going to be partnering with Jim Burke who is the culinary director of Wm. Mulherin’s & Sons in Philadelphia; they’ve got the Boutique Hotel project coming into the former Kuumba Academy on Market Street," said Akin. "We’ll also have La Fia (participating) and Stitch House (Brewery).”
Bardea and Akin’s Le Cavalier are also participating, along with two finalists from Bravo’s “Top Chef” Gregory Gourdet and Jennifer Carroll.
Other celebrity chefs visiting Wilmington include the host of Bravo’s “Top Chef” Tom Colicchio and TV personality and chef Andrew Zimmern.
You can buy tickets here.
