It’s the James Beard Dinner redux.

The five chefs who cooked at the James Beard House in New York in June will recreate the dinner -- as closely as seasonal availability will allow -- in their hometown in August.

Jamie McFadden, chef and co-owner of Cuisiniers Catering; Kevin Fonzo, chef/owner of K Restaurant; Scott Copeland, executive chef at Antonio’s La Fiamma; and James

and Julie Petrakis, chef/owners of The Ravenous Pig, will gather to cook the meal on Sunday, August 29, at the Ravenous Pig in Winter Park.

The evening will kick off, as it did in New York, with a sparkling wine reception at 6 p.m., with hors d’oeuvres, followed by the multi-course meal with wine pairings. Cost is $95, which includes tax and gratuity. A veritable bargain.

The dinner won't be precisely the same. Even just two months removed the seasonality of some of the ingredients used has passed. And the point of the dinner was to showcase the local ingredients of Central Florida. So instead of trying to find replacement ingredients from the global market, the chefs will use what's available at the end of August to recreate the menu as closely as possible.

For reservations, call the Pig at 407-628-2333. Below is the menu as it was prepared in New York:

Read more: Chefs Will Recreate Beard House Dinner in August

One of the most expensive slices of pizza I have ever had was, it shouldn’t be surprising, in New York, on 8th Avenue near the theater district. The heavy tourist trade should have warned me, but when you’re hungry you’re hungry and a slice of pizza sounded just right. I bristled at the $4 charge for a simple sausage and mushroom, but I swallowed hard, literally and figuratively.

I say it was one of the most expensive. The most expensive slice I’ve ever purchased was recently in Orlando, on Orange Avenue, near what would be the theater district if we had a theater district. This was at Gino’s; I don’t know which Roman numeral followed the name -- III, maybe IV. I had already walked out of another Gino’s -- IV, maybe III -- because the pies didn’t look very good. But when I got around to the one on Orange Avenue, I was hungry enough that I didn’t care what they looked like. I ordered a slice of the meat pizza and nearly plotzed when the young woman told me it would be $5. Five bucks for a slice of pizza! That means an eight-slice pie would fetch $40. That’s quite a hefty markup. (And never mind that later, when I found a recent menu from Gino’s that had been stuffed into the handle on my front door, I read that a specialty slice of ‘za should have cost only -- only? -- $4.) (And never mind that it was a pretty good slice of pizza; it’s the point.)

All this is to mention that I came across a place in London recently with a really terrific idea: selling a slice of pizza by the kilo. The pies are rectangular instead of round, although I’m not sure one can technically have a rectangular pie. The slices are four-sided, too, and you simply indicate to the attendant how large a slice, or chunk, as it were, that you’d like. He chops it off, throws it on the scale and then into the oven to heat it up. Have as little or as much as you like. Makes perfect sense.

I wish I could tell you that it was a delicious pizza to go with the brilliant idea, but it was largely forgettable, just like the name.

The Ravenous Pig usually takes the day off, but on a recent Sunday chef/owners James and Julie Petrakis were at the popular Winter Park restaurant. Joining them were rival chefs -- but also friends -- Kevin Fonzo of K Restaurant, Scott Copeland from Antonio’s La Fiamma, and Jamie McFadden of Cuisiniers. The five of them gathered around the bar to talk about strategy.

On Tuesday, June 22, they will collaborate to cook “A Central Florida Inspired Dinner,” something they all do, each in his or her own way, all the time. But this dinner will be different: it will take place at the prestigious James Beard House in New York’s Greenwich Village. They’re not the first chefs from Central Florida to cook there -- Disney chefs are occasional guest cooks as are others from corporate hotels -- but theirs will be the first dinner presented by a group of chefs from independently owned local restaurants.

There’s a lot at stake. It’s a big deal for any chef, including those in New York, to be invited to present a dinner at the house. It’s an opportunity for chefs to showcase their talent and promote their restaurants. And the people who attend the dinners and pay up to $165 per person, die-hard foodies all, are an appreciative bunch. But the group of Central Florida chefs are fighting against stereotype, the prejudiced notion that Orlando has nothing to offer but chain restaurants and all-you-can-eat buffets. So in a way, these five chefs are representing all the fine cooks in Central Florida. It has to be perfect.

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