Vaca restaurant to host a Friends of James Beard Benefit dinner

Long before he competed in the “Top Chef” finale and earned laurels for his two Orange County restaurants, chef Amar Santana was a high school sophomore enrolled in a cooking course.

It was the early 1990s. He had just migrated from the Dominican Republic to Queens, N.Y., and didn’t speak English.

Overwhelmed, Santana quit the course.

The following year, the school accidentally re-enrolled him in the same class, which was sponsored by Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP).

“I used to complain and give the teacher attitude anytime we did a recipe,” Santana said. “He told me, ‘You’re a punk, you’re always late, but you have it in you.’ ”

The then-16-year-old earned an internship at chef David Waltuck’s Chanterelle, one of New York’s famed French restaurants (now closed).

Santana entered a culinary competition and won a trip to London’s Le Cordon Bleu before heading to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. on a full-ride scholarship sponsored by C-CAP.

The scholarship, internship and the teacher’s encouragement changed his life, Santana said, and it’s one of the many reasons why he wanted to host a fundraiser in O.C. to support The James Beard Foundation, a New York-based organization that provides chef advocacy training, scholarships for culinary students and educational initiatives.

Santana and business partner Ahmed Labbate will host a Friends of James Beard Benefit dinner Aug. 10 at Vaca, their revered Spanish restaurant in the South Coast Plaza theater district.

The culinary team will welcome 100 guests for a seven-course dinner featuring the restaurant’s signature Vaca Tonic cocktail, a charcuterie and cheese board that guests can design with choices like house-cured duck ham and dry-cured Iberian pork sausage. Also planned: gazpacho, slow-baked cod, roasted lamb meatballs, albacore tataki, smoked chicken cannelloni, braised pork belly, paella, New York prime skirt steak and dessert.

“This is the only thing I know how to do,” Santana, 35, said as he sat at a table inside Vaca. “I live, I breathe, I dream of what to make. I’m always thinking of food and what do it with it.”

Santana and Labbate share a long history at South Coast Plaza.

In 2008, the two opened Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s and, in late 2015, Vaca at Park Tower, which, like South Coast Plaza, is owned by C.J. Segerstrom & Sons.

The benefit dinner also is a way to pay tribute to the Plaza’s 50th anniversary, celebrate Labbate’s 50th birthday and mark the third Friends of James Beard Benefit dinner at the retail center.

“The James Beard Foundation has done so much to celebrate America’s food culture and its chefs; we hold them in the highest regard,” said Debra Gunn Downing, South Coast Plaza’s marketing executive director. “And to have three South Coast Plaza restaurants host Friends of James Beard dinners within four years speaks to the caliber of our fine dining restaurateurs.”

The foundation is regarded for its annual awards for excellence in cuisine, culinary writing and culinary education in the U.S. It is often called “The Oscars of Food.”

“Just to be a part of this is big for us,” Santana said. “It really hits home for me.”

Vaca’s James Beard Benefit dinner starts at 6 p.m. Aug. 10. The restaurant is located at 695 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa and tickets are $350. For more information, call (714) 463-6060 or visit vaca.mybigcommerce.com/events

kathleen.luppi@latimes.com

Twitter: @KathleenLuppi