The great Italian chef Lidia Bastianich will return to Amarillo to cook a special dinner that’s “instrumental to the future of Panhandle PBS.”
Bastianich—an Emmy award-winning television host, best-selling cookbook author and restaurateur who has contributed to public television shows since 1998—is the featured chef for the area PBS station’s next Savor the Goods event.
Doors open for “A Night of Friendship and Flavor with Lidia Bastianich” at 6:15 p.m. Oct. 22 in the Legacy Room at Arts in the Sunset, 3701 Plains Blvd. A VIP conversation with Bastianich will begin at 5 p.m.
Tickets are $100 for general admission or $175 for VIP admission; sponsor tables are available.
“Events like this are instrumental to the future of Panhandle PBS,” said Stevi Breshears, the station’s marketing and PR manager. “The loss of federal funding was a huge blow, and we have to find ways to fill that gap. Our top priority is always, of course, serving the Texas Panhandle and telling the stories of our neighbors, and we want to keep doing that for many more years.”
Bastianich will collaborate with Amarillo chefs Marcus Snead of Toscano and Ruthie Landelius of Black Fig Food.
“Having this opportunity to work with Lidia feels quite surreal,” says Landelius, who’s also a Brick & Elm contributor. “She’s such a pillar in the culinary world and has been a huge inspiration for me. To now prepare her recipes for this dinner feels like sharing that same love of food and community with our own guests. It’s a huge honor and, honestly, pretty damn magical.”
The menu includes an antipasto course of focaccia with sliced prosciutto, mozzarella and celery salad; baked stuffed shells; beef short ribs braised in red wine with parmigiano barley, pot-roasted, herb-scented pork loin and braised greens; and biscotti di ricotta, seasonal citrus fruit and the “quasi un tiramisu” made famous at Bastianich’s restaurant Felidia’s.
VIP ticket holders will enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks during the Q&A session with Bastianich; they’ll also receive autographed copies of her new cookbook, Lidia’s The Art of Pasta.
“Events like Savor the Goods are a great way for us to raise funds for the station while also connecting with our community and giving them a great experience in return,” Breshears says. “We’re very lucky to have so much support in this community, whether that’s through partnerships with local organizations, donations, our members or even just the people who reach out to tell us they really liked a content piece we produced or something they saw on TV. I’m sure most people who have watched a PBS program are familiar with the phrase ‘thanks to viewers like you,’ and that rings true now more than ever before.”
For information, visit panhandlePBS.org/SavorTheGoods or call 806-371-5479.
Additional food-related highlights:
The Great Pumpkin Beer Dinner: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 22; Crush, 627 S. Polk St.; $95; 806-418-2011
Halloween Dinner in the Dark: 7 p.m. Oct. 28 and 29; Savór, 7669 Hillside Road, Suite 600; reservations requested; 806-310-2600
Hispanic Heritage Luncheon: 11:30 a.m. Oct. 29; Amarillo Civic Center Complex Grand Plaza, 401 S. Buchanan St.; tickets $55 and up; 806-372-7960
Tio’s Food Truck Rally: 6 to 10 p.m. Oct. 30; Texas Panhandle War Memorial, 4111 S. Georgia St.; no admission; 806-420-0582
