This week and weekend

Royal Gallery, 298 Atwells Ave., Providence, (401) 831-8831, royalgalleryri.com, will feature hors d’oeuvres from Federal Hill’s Bradford News Café to complement a tasting of wines from Smoking Loon Thursday, Dec. 3, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The monthly “A Royal Taste of Art” event, showcasing a small-works exhibition by the Art League of Rhode Island, is free and open to the public.

Waterplace Restaurant, 1 Finance Way, Providence, (401) 272-1040, waterplaceri.com, will hold “An Evening of Holiday Cheer” featuring entertainment by Tony Cerbo Thursday, Dec. 3, beginning at 7 p.m. The menu includes mixed greens salad, surf and turf with filet-cut beef, coffee and dessert and a complimentary glass of wine. Tickets, $39, do not include gratuity. Charge tickets by phone.

Astors’ Beechwood Mansion, 580 Bellevue Ave., Newport, (401) 846-3772, astorsbeechwood.com, will offer its Christmas Feasts Friday evenings, Dec. 4, 11 and 18, beginning at 7. After a tour of Mrs. Astor’s decorated home, guests will be seated at a table for 10 and will be able to interact with the actors who are celebrating St. Nicholas Day in 1891. The feast is provided by Russell Morin Fine Catering. Tickets, $125, must be purchased in advance.

Bethany Lutheran Church, 116 Rolfe Square, Cranston, (401) 941-1070, will hold its Christmas Fair Saturday, Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Coffee time is 9 to 10:30 a.m.; luncheon, featuring homemade chowder, harvest soup and chicken salad sandwiches, will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The bake table features fudge trays and themed gift baskets.

Central Baptist Church, 99 Narragansett Ave., Jamestown, (401) 423-1651, will hold its annual Christmas Fair Saturday, Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The lunch menu features lobster rolls, corn chowder with chicken, roasted vegetable soup and hot dogs; homemade baked goods will also be sold.

St. Mark Parish, 60 Narragansett Ave., Jamestown, (401) 423-1421, will hold its annual Christmas Festival in the church hall Saturday, Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Taste and See Café will serve lunch items (dynamites, soups, chowders, sandwiches, snacks and desserts) from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. while traditional Irish tunes are played and sung by Celtic Gathering. The bake table will feature Irish soda bread, pastries and family recipes from the church cookbook. Greenery arrangements, gift items and knitted goods are among the other items for sale.

Chez Pascal, 960 Hope St., Providence, (401) 421-4422, chez-pascal.com, will hold a Holiday Gift Sale Sunday, Dec. 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The restaurant’s mobile food truck will be parked outside. All proceeds from the raffle will benefit the Rhode Island Food Bank.

Coming Up

Legal Sea Foods’ Exchange Conference Center, Boston Fish Pier, 212 Northern Ave., Boston, will host a Holiday Cookbook Reception to benefit ReadBoston, founded by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Monday, Dec. 7, from 6 to 8 p.m. Culinary authors include Barbara Lynch, Roger Berkowitz, Clara Silverstein and Marguerite Buonopane. Books by each author will be for sale, and hors d’oeuvres will be provided by Legal Sea Foods. Tickets, $25, must be reserved by Friday, Dec. 4, by calling (617) 918-5289 or going to readboston@cityofboston.gov.

The Genesis Center, a nonprofit school for refugees and immigrants in Providence, will hold its annual Food for Thought Gala and Auction Tuesday, Dec. 8, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center. Among the nearly 30 restaurants represented are CAV, Effendi’s, Rasoi, Gracie’s, El Rancho Grande and Tina’s Jamaican. The suppliers of beer and wine include McLaughlin & Moran and the vineyards of the Coastal Wine Trail. Dances by a Peruvian folk group and the Laotian Dragon Dancers will be featured and a jazz quartet will perform. Tickets, $50, can be purchased by calling (401) 781-6110. For more information, call Frank Sullivan at that number or e-mail frank@gencenter.org.

The Radisson Hotel Providence Airport, 2081 Post Rd., Warwick, (401) 739-3000, will hold a Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, Dec. 12, from 8 to 11 a.m. in the decorated University Ballroom. The cost is $12 for adults and $9 for children, tax and gratuity included. The buffet will include scrambled eggs, home fries, French toast sticks, bacon, sausage, a fruit platter and pastries. Children will have the opportunity to decorate their own sugar cookies, and photos with Santa will be available for $2 each. Advance reservations are required. Call the hotel or visit the Web site, Radisson.com/hotels/riproair/

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The Egavian Cultural Center, 70 Jefferson St., Providence, will host an Armenian pastry demonstration by Stephanie Masoian of Delicacies in Cranston and a holiday cookie sale by the Women’s Guild of Sts. Sahag & Mesrob Armenian Church Monday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. Donation of $10 includes coffee and pastry. Call Anahid Ayrassian at (401) 272-4743 to reserve.

Pinelli’s Café at Night, 701 Quaker Lane, West Warwick, (401) 821-8828, will serve the traditional Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes Dinner Monday, Dec. 14, beginning at 5:45 p.m. The menu will feature snail salad, baccala salad, fried smelts, calamari, fried shrimp, seafood pasta, baked stuffed shrimp, scallops, Chef Michael’s stuffies and baked fish. The price is $29.95 plus tax and gratuity; reservations are suggested. The menu will also be available for takeout for Christmas Eve pickup.

News

Mediterraneo Caffe, 134 Atwells Ave., Providence, (401) 331-7760, mediterraneocaffe.com, is giving 20 percent off when customers present a DineGift card, which is no longer valid as the company is defunct. Some rules apply.

Munroe Dairy Cowtrucks are now delivering fresh fruits and vegetables, along with eggnog made from local ingredients. Visit cowtruck.com or call (401) 438-4450 for more information.

Trinity Brewhouse, 186 Fountain St., Providence, (401) 453-2337, trinitybrewhouse.com, won five awards (one first, three second and one third) in five categories at the Annual Great International Beer Festival held last month at the Rhode Island Convention Center. The restaurant and brewpub entered 10 beers in 10 of the 15 categories offered.

The West Warwick Public Library Association, 1043 Main St., has collected recipes from library staff and friends and compiled them into a keepsake cookbook, “Well Read and Well Fed,” under the direction of reference librarian Brigitte Hopkins. It’s for sale at the circulation desk during regular library hours for $10 each or three for $25. For more information call (401) 828-3750, ext. 4 or go to wwlibrary.org.

Wine and beer events

Sakonnet Vineyards, 162 West Main Rd., Little Compton, will hold its annual Holiday Open House Saturday, Dec. 5, and Sunday, Dec. 6, from noon to 3 p.m. There will be live holiday music and children’s activities. Samples from Narragansett Creamery, Wicked Natural, Purple Pear of Providence and Gerry Dupont will be paired with the vineyard’s award-winning wines. Those who bring an unwrapped new toy to benefit Child and Family Services of Newport will receive 10 percent off their purchase. Cash donations are also accepted. Admission is free. Call (401) 635-8486 for more information.

The Women’s Resource Center of Newport and Bristol Counties “Wine Down Wednesday” will be hosted by Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, One West Exchange St., Providence, as part of its charity series Wednesday, Dec. 9, from 5 to 7 p.m. Light hors d’oeuvres will be paired with a selection of red and white wines in the bar area. Tickets, $25, can be obtained by calling Shannon Brawley at (401) 846-5263 or e-mail at Shannon@wrcnbc.org.

The American Institute of Wine and Food, Rhode Island Chapter, will sponsor a six-course dinner with sparkling wines at Spark Restaurant, 12 Broadway, Newport, on Monday, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m. Michael Lester of MS Walker will describe sparkling wines to match Spark’s menu, which includes appetizers, crab succotash, freeform vegetable ravioli, Malaysian salmon sambal, cassoulet and chocolate mousse. Members $70, nonmembers $85; price includes food, corkage and tip. Reserve by Dec. 11 to Jade Cihanowyz, aiwfri@gmail.com, (401) 683-2490 or aiwf.org/rhodeisland.

Shelter Harbor Inn, 10 Wagner Rd., Westerly, (401) 322-8883, shelterharborinn.com, will pair wines from Chalk Hill Vineyards of Sonoma County with four courses at its December Wine Dinner Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 6:45 p.m. The entrée is rack of lamb with Cabernet demi glaze, haricots verts and mustard spaetzle. Tickets are $60, excluding tax and gratuity; wine dinner guests are offered a special lodging rate of $96. Call to reserve.

Contests

The Pillsbury Easy Frost No-Fuss Frosting Challenge invites consumers to decorate a homemade baked good of their choice and submit an original photo of the wholly edible creation online for a chance to win $10,000 and a year’s worth of No-Fuss Frosting. The product is available in an aerosol can with a built-in five-star applicator tip. Submissions can be entered through Feb. 5 at pillsburybaking.com.

On the menu

The Blue Grotto Restaurant, 210 Atwells Ave., Providence, (401) 272-9030, bluegrottorestaurant.com, recently introduced its winter menu. New dishes include Ravioli di Formaggio di Capra e Pancetta, a house-made ravioli filled with goat cheese and pancetta and finished with sautéed arugula and radicchio, toasted pine nuts and balsamic brown butter sauce. Gnocchi Casalinga, the annual winter gnocchi, is back: house-made sweet potato gnocchi with spinach, roasted red peppers, fennel and Vidalia onions tossed in a brown sugar and brandy cream sauce. Other new selections include Merluzzo al Forno, roasted cod with sun-dried tomato sherry cream, herbed crumbs and crispy leeks, and Bisteccone alla Grigilia, grilled Angus bone-in ribeye steak garnished with roasted peppers and cioppolinni onions.

The Newport Marriott, 25 America’s Cup Ave., (401) 849-1000, newportmarriott.com, features a giant gingerbread house with a 16-foot working lighthouse in its atrium lobby. The hotel’s culinary team devoted over 100 hours to baking, building and decorating the confection compound, using more than 450 pounds of organic gingerbread, 4,000 cookies and giant lollipops, and nearly 50 gallons of royal icing.

Class

Ebisu, 38 Pontiac Ave., Providence, (401) 270-7500, ebisuri.com, will hold a sake pairing event Sunday, Dec. 13, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Three premium sakes (Asamurasaki, Kurashizuku and Yuzu) are paired with five appetizers. The fee is $29.95 and the class size is limited. Call to register or e-mail info@ebisuri.com.

On TV

“Cooking with Class” features chef Frank Terranova, an associate instructor at Johnson & Wales University, cooking puff pastry recipes next week during the noon and 5 p.m. newscasts on Channel 10.

“Cucina di Nonna” with Jean Restivo and Gilda Colannino will air an a la vigilia cooking segment Saturday, Dec. 5 and 12, at 3 p.m. on Cox 13 and Verizon 32. Christmas cooking segments will also be broadcast Wednesday, Dec. 2, 9, 16 and 23, on the same cable channels at the same time.

gciampa@projo.com