This week and weekend

Actor Dan Aykroyd will host a Crystal Head Vodka tasting at Yankee Spirits, 628 Washington St. (Route 1), Attleboro, today from 3 to 5 p.m.

The American Institute of Wine and Food, Rhode Island Chapter, hosts an Explore the World of Mexico Dinner tonight at 6 at El Rancho Grande, 311 Plainfield St., Providence. The price is $45 for members and $60 for others. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Rhode Island residents attending Johnson & Wales University. Call (401) 683-2490 or e-mail jaderiaiwf@juno.com.

People’s Liquor Warehouse, 1350 Greenwich Ave., Warwick, hosts a tasting tonight with Marc Guillotte at 6 featuring Sauvignon Blanc. Louella Hill, Narragansett Creamery cheesemaker, directs a seminar on pairing artisan cheese and Sauvignon Blanc from around the world. Free and open to the public but reservations required at (401) 737-0900.

Twin Oaks, 100 Sabra St., Cranston, (401) 781-0699, twinoaksrest.com, hosts a Taste of Positano presented by Cooking Vacations Italy.com, an Italian culinary tour company, tomorrow. The evening includes a cocktail reception at 6 p.m. and a Mediterranean dinner buffet at 7. The price is $70 and wine pairings are included.

The North Central Chamber of Commerce sponsors an Amateur Cookie Competition at its Winter Apple Fest Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Smithfield Elks Lodge, 326 Farnum Pike, Smithfield. The registration fee is $5 and is required no later than 1:30 p.m. Prizes will be awarded. Call (401) 349-4674 for further details.

Newport Restaurant Group properties Castle Hill Inn & Resort, 22 Bowen’s Wine Bar & Grille, The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar, the Boat House, Trio, and Waterman Grille, will take a road trip to the Providence Wintertime Farmers’ Market at the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket for their very own chefs’ challenge. Each chef will peruse the market with $100 in Farm Fresh Bucks and purchase the best-looking ingredients for a dish that will be offered as a special at their respective restaurants that evening. Visit www.newportrestaurantgroup.com for more info.

Blue Grotto Restaurant, 210 Atwells Ave., Providence, (401) 272-9030, holds a Women of Wine event tonight with four courses of appetizers with corresponding wines $30. Due to Ash Wednesday, the menu will reflect dietary restrictions. On Friday, there will be a Castello Banfi wine dinner with five courses for $75.

Save the date

Mark Gasbarro will host the annual Wine Tasting to benefit the American Cancer Society on Monday, May 11, at 6:30 p.m. at the Westin Providence, 1 West Exchange St. Tickets are $75 and will be on sale until Monday, May 4, at Gasbarro’s Wines, 361 Atwells Ave., Providence; the American Cancer Society, 931 Jefferson Blvd., Suite 3004, Warwick, (401) 243-2600; Dugan Jewelers, 164 Main St., East Greenwich, (401) 884-6800, or by calling (401) 421-4170.

Coming Up

The Association of Professional Italian Chefs is sponsoring a gala dinner featuring special guest chef Tony Mantuano, a James Beard Award winner, from Spiaggia in Chicago. He will cook with Rhode Island chefs Franco Paterno of the Marriott Providence, Nino D’Urso of Capriccio, Michele Calise of Mediterraneo, Salvatore Cefaliello of Venda Ravioli, and Walter Potenza of Walter’s. The dinner is at the Marriott Hotel Providence, 1 Orms St., Providence, March 8 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $95. Call (401) 273-2652 or visit chefwalter.com for tickets/information. Proceeds benefit the Federal Hill House, Providence.

Greenwich Farms at Warwick, 75 Minnesota Ave., Warwick, (401) 737-7222, hosts A Trip Around the World: Taste and Tour Open House March 7. The senior living community’s executive chef, Bob Ingram, will give a cooking demonstration at 11:30 a.m., followed by the open house tour from noon to 2 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to take home samples of favorite dishes from Italian, French and Irish cuisine presentations. Reservations must be made by Tuesday, March 3.

Holy Cross Church, Providence, hosts a Game Dinner March 15 at 1 p.m. at the FOP Lodge, 95 Tanner Ave., Warwick. The dinner will include but not be limited to antipasto, country-style game chili, bison lasagna, boar over roasted potatoes, braised venison and venison sausage over polenta with mushrooms and onions. Tickets are $30. Call Ed Joseph at (401) 943-4904.

St. Martha Church, 2592 Pawtucket Ave., East Providence, (401) 434-4060, sponsors an Irish/Italian Dinner Dance on March 14 after the 4 p.m. Mass. The menu features assorted appetizers, salad, minestrone soup, pasta, a complete corned beef and cabbage boiled dinner, chicken Marsala and dessert. The evening includes dancing and a cash bar. The cost is $20; children 9 and younger, $10.

3 Steeple Street Bistro & Bar, 125 Canal St., Providence, (401) 272-3620, offers a dinner concert special March 6 to celebrate the beginning of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. The four-course dinner explores the culinary culture of the Silk Road and is at 5:30 pm. The concert is at the Providence Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. The cost for dinner and the concert is $65. Reservations required.

Wine Events

Castle Hill Inn & Resort, 590 Ocean Drive, Newport, (401) 849-3800; castlehillinn.com, hosts a Duckhorn wine dinner on Wednesday, March 18. Dan Duckhorn, cofounder, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Duckhorn Wine Company, will lead guests through each selection of wine as they are paired with executive chef Jonathan Cambra’s five-course dinner. A reception begins at 6:30 p.m., with dinner starting at 7:30. The cost is $150. Call (401) 848-0918, ext. 150, for reservations.

DeWolf Tavern, Thames Street Landing, 259 Thames St., Bristol, (401) 254-2005, dewolftavern.com, plans an Early Spring Bounty Wine Dinner, Sunday, March 15, and an Early Summer Bounty Wine Dinner, Sunday, April 5. The six-course dinners, with a selection of wines, begin at 6:30 p.m. and are $40. Reservations required.

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 1 West Exchange St., Providence, (401) 533-9000, flemingssteakhouse.com, hosts the American Red Cross Heroes Campaign kickoff as part if its Wine Down Wednesdays charity series on March 11 from 5 to 7 p.m. The evening features light hors d’oeuvres paired with a selection of red and white wines served in the restaurant’s Rosecliff Room. Tickets are $50 with all proceeds benefiting the American Red Cross, Rhode Island Chapter. For tickets go to riredcross.org or call Deborah Ashe at (401) 831-7700, ext. 123.

Shelter Harbor Inn, 10 Wagner Rd., Westerly, hosts a wine dinner on Wednesday, March 11, at 6:45 p.m., featuring wines from Caymus Vineyards and a menu that includes monkfish, a vegetable terrine and tenderloin. The cost is $70 with a special lodging rate of $79 for wine-dinner guests. To reserve, call (401) 322-8883.

Classes

Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum, 101 Ferry Rd., Route 114, Bristol, (401) 253-2707, ext. 16, blithewold.org, offers Spice It Up!, a workshop on spices, Tuesday, March 10, at 6 p.m. Herbalist Bonnie Kavanagh discusses the history, folklore and medicinal benefits of common culinary spices and guides participants in the creation of a “healthy” spice blend to take home. The workshop meets in Blithewold’s Carriage House. The cost is $25, Blithwold members $20.

News

Elaine Bernier, vintner for Sakonnet Vineyard, has been presented the 2009 Edible Communities Local Hero Beverage Artisan Award by edible RHODY publisher John Schenck and editor Genie McPherson Trevor.

Seven Stars Bakery will soon open at Rumford Center, 20 Newman Ave., Rumford. The bakery has two locations in Providence, one at 820 Hope St. on the East Side and one on the city’s West Side at 242 Broadway. In Rumford, it will move into a first-floor retail canopy space scheduled to be completed by mid-May. When they opened their second store, owners Lynn and Jim Williams said they knew they had to go wholesale or open more cafes. They chose the latter. They opened a production facility in Pawtucket for all the bread making and baking.

Chris Jones has been named executive sous chef at The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar, Sayer’s Wharf, Newport. Prior to his new role, he was banquet chef at The Mooring’s sister property, Castle Hill Inn & Resort.

On the menu

Napa Valley Grille, 111 Providence Place, Providence, (401) 270-6272, napavalleygrille.com, will be offering family-style dining every Thursday from 4 p.m. to closing starting March 5. The cost will be $20 for adults and $7 for children. Chef Guy Michaud will create a new menu each week.

Pearl Restaurant & Lounge, 393 Charles St., Providence, (401) 331-3000, pearlrestaurant.net, has a new menu featuring a raw bar tasting with shrimp, poached lobster tails, oysters on the half shell and tuna ceviche; salads including spinach and beet; entrees of Chilean sea bass, sweet penne and chicken in honey wine sauce, pistachio-encrusted chicken and a double-cut pork chop.

The Star Diner, 140 Newport Ave., East Providence (Rumford), (401) 434-8899, is open for dining in or takeout orders Monday through Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday for breakfast only, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants has a Buy One Entrée, Get One Free coupon offer good through Sunday. The coupon is valid once per party, per visit. Friday’s entrees range in price from $5.99 to $18.29. Visit fridays.com/promos/ bogo_2009_02.aspx? fromhome for the coupon.

Ted’s Montana Grill, 2 Chapel View Blvd., Cranston, (401) 275-5070, tedsmontanagrill.com, has expanded its Real Deal three-course meal to include the lunch menu. The Real Deal lunch menu, priced at $12 to $13, includes a choice of an appetizer (house salad, soup or onion rings), entrée (salad with grilled chicken, Caesar salad with grilled chicken, cheeseburger or cedar-plank salmon) and dessert (a choice of Ted’s fresh-baked cookies). The Real Deal dinner, $15 to $16, offers the same appetizer and dessert options as the lunch special but features two different dinner items: all-natural “beer can” chicken or bison meatloaf.

Narragansett Creamery introduces Pirate Spread, the newest small-batch artisan cheeses. A spicy, sweet, spread, it is made from the Creamery’s Salty Sea feta, sun dried tomatoes and herbs and spices. It will be available at the Winter Farmers’ Market, 1005 Main St., Pawtucket, Saturday mornings from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. as well as a variety of specialty food markets. Learn more at richeeses.com.

On TV

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

Cooking Fresh with chef Walter Potenza features him preparing hot spinach salad tomorrow during Channel 6’s 4 p.m. news and again Friday during the 6 to 7 and 7 to 8 p.m. newscasts.

Bravo is holding an open casting call for its sixth season of Top Chef in cities across the country. The closest it will get is at CraftSteak Restaurant, 85 Tenth Ave., New York City. Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Additional casting information is available at bravotv.com/casting.

gciampa@projo.com