It may still be winter, but spring is on the way – and that means we’re planning for the Culinary Crossroads Spring Dinner Series!
This will be the third year for our series of collaborative chef dinners at Highland Golf & Country Club in Indianapolis. It’s a great venue, and especially beautiful in the springtime when our dinner series takes place. This year, the dinners will be on April 10, April 17, April 24 and May 1, and we’ve got an “around town” theme, highlighting chefs from restaurants all around the Indianapolis area.
We’ll be featuring a dozen chefs this year, and we’re excited to have them all join us and our presenting sponsor, Ivy Tech Community College. Three chefs will collaborate each week on a fabulous menu, starting with a variety of appetizers during the cocktail reception then moving on to dinner and dessert – with each course paired with wines. It’s always exciting to see what menus the chefs come up with, enjoy the wines that have been chosen and reconnect with lots of supportive local food fans.
“As we prepare for our third annual Spring Dinner Series, we are thrilled with the opportunity to once again provide our patrons and underwriters an update on Culinary Crossroads’ new and upcoming initiatives,” said founder and director Larry Dickerson. “What’s most exciting are the connections and relationships that we have seen naturally come about when you bring folks together to enjoy great food, drink and conversation.”
One key thing that makes a Culinary Crossroads dinner special is that we are committed to compensating our featured chefs. So often, chefs and restaurants are asked to donate their time, talent and food costs, which can be a significant financial burden. We’re trying to change that by paying chefs, reimbursing their food costs and making a donation to a cause for each chef, in keeping with our theme of “great food, great talent, great causes.”
This year, donations for our Spring Dinner Series will be made to the Hardesty Scholarship Fund, an Ivy Tech culinary scholarship in honor of Indianapolis chef Greg Hardesty, who mentored many local chefs and who passed away in the spring of 2021. Our Sunday Supper Club dinner series, an initiative in partnership with Paramount Schools of Excellence and Kelly’s Fund, also raises funds for the Hardesty Scholarship. Thanks to these efforts, the scholarship will be awarded this spring for the 2023 fall semester.
To keep up with our dinner schedule, scholarship news and other initiatives, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram at CulinaryCrossroadsIN, visit our website at CulinaryCrossroads.org and pass along our On the Road newsletter to a foodie friend – thanks!