Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc restaurant in Yountville is throwing a block party fundraiser on Saturday, October 9 from 5–10pm. There will be live music, a BBQ pit, wood-fired pizza oven, an Ad Hoc Open House, and four courses of food paired with wines.

All proceeds benefit Clinic Olé, a community health organization that serves low-income and uninsured residents of Napa County, and the ticket price is tax deductible.

Tickets go on sale September 1 and pricing is as follows:

• $49 (admission only)
• $75 (admission + limited-edition t-shirt)

For you bloggers out there attending BlogHer Food ’10 in San Francisco, this is on the same day as the second day of the conference, so plan accordingly if you want to attend. If you’re not attending BlogHer Food, then come out and support the cause!

If you have any questions, let me know and I can find out answers for you. Otherwise, call Ad Hoc at 707.944.2487 for more information or to buy tickets.

Hope to see you there!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Street Cart Wars to Benefit SF Food Bank
• Blog Away Hunger / Help Haiti
• Know Your Ribeye, a.k.a. New Year’s Eve at Ad Hoc
• The French Laundry (with an Ad Hoc chaser)
• Cook the Book: Ad Hoc at Home – Blowtorch Prime Rib

UPDATE: THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT! YOU CAN STILL DONATE BELOW OR AT SFFOODBANK.ORG IF YOU’D LIKE TO SUPPORT THE CAUSE.

The blog’s been on hiatus for a few months, and I definitely have some fun things I want to write about, but right now, I’m promoting the annual fundraiser for the San Francisco Food Bank known as Eugeapalooza. The fundraisers were started by my friend Eugene Lee in 2005, and last year’s event, known as PigEat Fest, raised more than $2500 (equal to approximately $24,500 in food for the food bank).

Held at Lake Merced in San Francisco, this year’s event is known as Street Cart Wars and will showcase creations by some of the Bay Area’s most ambitious home cooks. It will also feature Ad Hoc Executive Chef Dave Cruz, who will be donating his time and culinary mastery to help the cause and feed attendees.

Pre-sale tickets (via PayPal) are $20 for adults until the end of day on Tuesday Aug. 10 and are eligible for a raffle for prizes that include a signed copy of the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook, bottles of wine, and more! From August 11–13 tickets are $25 for adults, and the price goes up to $30 on the day of the event. Children’s tickets (ages 10 and up) are $10 and children under 10 eat free. Each entrant will receive 12 tickets good for one plate of food at the following booths:

• 63 Degree Sous Vide Egg; Canape; Roasted Bone Marrow & Sangria by s+s gastro grub (featuring Ad Hoc’s Dave Cruz)
• Adobo & Lumpia by Sinigangster
• Bacon Cheddar Sliders & BBQ’d Corn Dogs by Meat-Cheese-Bacon
• Banh Mi Four Ways (Shrimp, Beef, Chicken, Wheat Gluten) by Banh Mi Gently With A Chainsaw
• Banh Xeo by The Sizzling Pan
• Buffalo Wings by Euge
• Burmese Tea Salad by Singh Ki Dukaan
• Chicken Tikka Masala by Kafe Kevo
• Mac & Cheese by i (heart) chez
• Midwestern Dessert by Fat + Sugar
• Pulled Pork Tacos with Ancho Chili Sauce & Slaw by Cocina Bronia
• Tandoori Ground Lamb/Beef Kebab with yogurt sauce by The Trashy Tandoor!

You might be wondering why Inuyaki isn’t listed as one of the vendors at this event. I had planned to participate, making either my Tocino Sliders or Korean BBQ Tacos, but I have family in town this weekend and didn’t have the time. I will be at the event as an eater, and I’ve also extended my support to my friends (and neighbors) Seb and Simone as an official sponsor of their s+s gastro grub booth.

Other sponsors of the s+s gastro grub booth include:

• 4505 Meats
• Ad Hoc
• Chop Bar
• Clos du Bois
• Premium Port Wines, Inc.
• Semifreddi’s
• Ventex

These companies’ sponsorship of s+s gastro grub for this event are helping offset costs for Seb and Simone so they can make a larger personal donation to the SF Food Bank. I’m honored to be in such prestigious company to help out this cause.

For more information on this fantastic event, go to the official site or their Yelp Events page.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Puto Bumbong
• Ad Hoc Block Party on Oct. 9 to Benefit Clinic Olé
• Blog Away Hunger / Help Haiti
• Menu for Hope VI: Give a Little, Get a Lot This Holiday Season
• Korean BBQ Tacos

I may be on vacation, but that doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention to what’s going on in the world. The earthquake in Haiti has devastated the country, and the world’s eyes are currently transfixed on recovery, rescue, and relief efforts there. I’ve already donated money to Artists for Peace and Justice, and my wife donated to both Doctors Without Borders and OxFam America to help support their relief efforts in Haiti.

But after being inspired by Marc at No Recipes and his Help Haiti campaign (part of his larger Blog Away Hunger initiative), I’m going to triple my ad revenue total for the month of January and donate it to help the cause. Since ad revenue is paid based on the number of clicks within a Web site, you can easily increase the amount of my donation by clicking and reading the posts on this blog.

If you’re a food blogger with an ad revenue stream and want to participate, go to the Help Haiti site for more information. I’d also love it if you tried to match or beat my pledge to donate triple my January ad total to the cause.

If you want to make a donation on behalf of Help Haiti, you can give money directly to the Friends of the World Food Program. Make sure to select Haiti Disaster in the drop-down menu when you donate.

If you choose to donate to a different organization, that’s fine too. Anything you can do to help Haiti get back on its feet is a worthwhile endeavor.

Thanks!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Ad Hoc Block Party on Oct. 9 to Benefit Clinic Olé
• Street Cart Wars to Benefit SF Food Bank
• Menu for Hope VI: Give a Little, Get a Lot This Holiday Season

It’s the season for giving, and this year, I’ve donated some prizes to support Menu for Hope, an annual fundraiser started by Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim that benefits the UN World Food Programme (WFP). Menu for Hope starts today, December 14, and runs through Christmas.

Proceeds from this year’s effort will benefit the WFP’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) program. P4P enables small-holder and low-income farmers to supply food to WFP’s global operation. P4P helps farmers improves farming practices and puts more cash directly into their pockets in return for their crops. This will also help buoy local economy by creating jobs and income locally. We food bloggers understand the importance of buying locally and supporting our local farms, P4P helps do the same for farmers in low income countries around the world.

How Can You Participate?
It’s easy. Buy a raffle ticket. Each virtual raffle ticket is $10, and you can buy tickets for the prize(s) of your choice. If you want to buy multiple tickets for a specific prize, you can do that too. At the end of the two-week campaign, raffle tickets are drawn and the results announced are on Chez Pim.

Here are the prizes I’m offering:

(UW27) Signed Ad Hoc at Home cookbook and dinner for two at Ad Hoc
Cookbook signed by Chef Thomas Keller and Ad Hoc Chef de Cuisine Dave Cruz and dinner for two at Ad Hoc (beverages, gratuity, and tax not included). You should bid on this item only if you plan on being in the Yountville sometime in 2010. :)

(UW28) Signed Ad Hoc at Home cookbook
Cookbook signed by Chef Thomas Keller and Ad Hoc Chef de Cuisine Dave Cruz.

Ad Hoc at Home is hard to find right now as it is basically sold out until February. Bid today for your chance to get a copy signed by Chefs Keller and Cruz. Thanks to Ad Hoc General Manager Nick Dedier for donating both of these prizes.

(UW29) Signed Under Pressure cookbook
Cookbook signed by Chef Thomas Keller. Perfect for the Thomas Keller-phile or if you want to learn all about sous vide cooking.

(UW30) Signed Momofuku cookbook
Cookbook signed by Chef David Chang and co-author Peter Meehan. This is one of my favorite cookbooks of the year, as evidenced by my series of posts known as Momofuku Week. :)

To Donate and Enter the Menu for Hope Raffle
For as little as a single $10 donation, you can own a signed copy of one of these great cookbooks. Here’s how it works.

1. Choose a bid item or bid items of your choice from our Menu for Hope main bid item list.
2. Go to the donation site at Firstgiving and make a donation. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a bid item of your choice.
3. Please specify which bid item you’d like in the Personal Message section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per bid item, and please use the bid item code.

   “number of tickets” x “item code”

   For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for UW27 and 3 tickets for UW29, i.e.

   2x UW27, 3xUW29.

4. In the U.S., if your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so we can contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.
6. Check Chez Pim on Monday January 18 for the results of the raffle.