Top Chefs Will Be Cookin’ in the Name of Charity

Twenty top Orange County chefs will offer their specialties at the sixth annual Great Chefs of Orange County benefit for the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange on Sunday, Oct. 20, from 2 to 6 p.m. They’ll represent such restaurants as Alfredo’s, Antonello, Bangkok Four, Chanteclair, Five Crowns, JW’s, Prego, the Ritz Carlton, Watercolors and Zov’s Bistro. Twenty California wineries will also pour samples. Honorary chairman is restaurant columnist Merrill Shindler, host of KABC Channel 7’s “Dining Out” program. Tickets are $75; call the Kidney Foundation at (714) 962-7675.

Some 499 years ago, Christopher Columbus set out in search of “an earthly paradise.” To celebrate his voyage, Tutto Mare will host a Columbus Day celebration Monday, a benefit for ChildHelp USA. Manager Claudio Arena says the event will feature a champagne reception with antipasto at 6:30 p.m., followed at 7:30 by a five-course Italian feast of such items as zucchini blossoms stuffed with marscapone and goat cheese, carpaccio of grappa-cured salmon, black and white tagliolini with sea scallops, and beef filet with porcini mushrooms. Appropriate vintages will be served with each course, and a trio of Italian musicians will entertain. The entire restaurant will be dedicated to this black-tie-optional event, which is $75 per person. Reservations: (714) 640-6333. Tutto Mare is in Newport Beach’s Fashion Island.

Fred LeFranc has departed Vision Restaurants Inc., leaving Larry Cano at the helm. The corporation operates four Orange county restaurants: the newly remodeled Studio Cafe in Corona del Mar, Cano’s in Newport Beach, Pasta Grill (formerly Salud) in Huntington Beach and Manana in Fountain Valley.

FOR THE RECORD: The phone number for the new Summit House in Fullerton is (714) 671-4111. It was incorrectly reported in the Sept. 19 edition of this column.