Gracie’s Chef Joseph Hafner will cook alongside some of the country’s top chefs for The Star Chefs: The Nation’s Best Cook at Gracie’s.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

Gracie’s chef Joseph Hafner learned to cook side by side with his mother and five sisters. It was fun, especially when they all made pasta.

“I loved that,” said the chef. “And I miss that.”

So he’s invited some very special friends, who also happen to be chefs, to join him in Gracie’s Providence kitchen for a series of dinners. While it will feed his soul for the camaraderie of the kitchen, it will also feed diners in a special way as several of the chefs are winners of prestigious James Beard awards.

The Star Chefs: The Nation’s Best Cook at Gracie’s will bring a top chef to Providence about once a month to cook with chef Hafner. The guest chef and Hafner will custom design a five-course menu that will be paired with wine. Both chefs will be in and out of the dining room as they cook to talk to guests about the meal.

The first dinner features chef Celina Tio on Feb. 9. The Philadelphia born-and-raised Tio is best known for her time as the executive chef at The American Restaurant in Kansas City, Mo. Her credits include a 2007 Best Chef: Midwest from the James Beard Foundation.

The second dinner in March features chef Keith Luce of the Herbfarm in Seattle, Wash., voted one of the top 10 restaurants in the United States in 2007 by the Zagat Survey. The James Beard Foundation named him Rising Star Chef of the Year in 1998. He’s also been on television as a guest on Bravo’s Top Chef.

“It will be great for people in Providence to be exposed to these Beard winners and all these great chefs,” said Hafner who is in his third year at the reigns of Gracie’s, the upscale restaurant that moved from humble beginnings on Federal Hill to stylish space on Washington Street across from Trinity Rep.

Hafner said the idea for the Star Chefs dates back to a 2007 dinner when Gracie’s hosted a Share Our Strength’s Chefs on Tour to End Childhood Hunger event. Tio was there along with chef Bradford Thompson, another James Beard winner from Arizona, who has since become a good friend of Hafner’s. The day before that event, which also included local chefs Matt Gennuso of Chez Pascal and Andrew Shotts of Garrison Confections, the chefs had a pizza-making party at Eva’s Garden in South Dartmouth, Mass., an organic farm favored by some of the best restaurants in Rhode Island. She had just added a pizza oven to her kitchen.

The chefs had a great time cooking and eating and Hafner was anxious to bring that party to diners.

“Of course you have to work hard but this is part of enjoying things, too,” he said. “And everyone is looking for that unique meal.”

That unique is what will be served.

Tio and Hafner’s menu will start with canapés that are a “little play on American classics,” he said. They will include deviled eggs and caviar, apple butter and pecans and an updated version of scallops and bacon. One course will be themed “Breakfast for Dinner” while other dishes will include lobster pot pie and a pork belly pot roast. Dessert will include a gelatin-style mold with big surprises on top. The menu will be laminated, diner-style.

In March with Luce, Hafner plans a food tour of New England cooking through the eyes of those who settled here. A native American dish will start things off and the progression will include German, Italian, Irish and Portuguese dishes.

“At the end of the day we want to have fun,” Hafner said.

The dinners are $100 and include wine with each course but not gratuity.

Hafner and Gracie’s owner Ellen Gracyalny are also reaching out to include local chefs. They are invited to come and dine at an exclusive chefs-only table with their ticket costing $50. That seating is limited to eight chefs.

Other chefs set to come in the spring include Barton Seaver of Hook, a sustainable seafood restaurant in Washington, D.C., and Alex Guarnaschelli, the executive chef at Butter in New York and a regular judge on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America.

Details: For reservations, call (401) 272-7811. Check graciesprov.com for schedule updates.

gciampa@projo.com