Celeb Chef Plans Inaugural Fete

Alice Waters is heading to Washington, and the inauguration eve dinner prepared by one of the country's highest-profile chefs is one of the capital’s hottest tickets, the Huffington Post reports. The Chez Panisse founder says she hopes the event will highlight her advocacy of local food and communal eating. “In Washington,” she says, “we are trying to come back to the table.”

The table is “where we gather friends and family, where we want to eat together because the food is nourishing and tasty,” Waters said. But it’s not all about pleasure: $350 of the $500 price will go to local soup kitchens. The menu will likely include Chesapeake Bay oysters and local lamb. And, of course, Champagne. From France? “You try to eat as locally as possible but then you make exceptions,” Waters said. (More Alice Waters stories.)