Get a Taste for Great Chefs

A stellar cast of chefs will prepare specialties for the seventh annual Great Chefs of Orange County on Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Four Seasons Hotel, Newport Beach. With expenses underwritten by sponsors, all the money raised will benefit the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California, Orange County Region.

The 25 participating chefs include Paul Gstrein, Bistango; Byron Gemmell, Chanteclair; Greg Neville, Il Fornaio; Tim and Jamie Gluck, Etienne’s; Pascal Olhats, Pascal; Lupe Camarena, the Ritz; and Philip Clark, the White House. Twenty California wineries will also participate.

According to Cami Black, chair of the benefit, the servings will be larger than the samplings at other tasting events, and guests do not pay for each dish. Tickets are $75 per person. 690 Newport Center Drive; (714) 962-7675.

High tea will be served Friday from 3 to 4 p.m. at Gustaf Anders, complete with canapes, petite sandwiches, cookies, cakes and tarts. The price is $15 per person. On Tuesday, Gustaf Anders and Robert Mondavi Winery will present a wine dinner prepared by Rosanne Ruiz, chef of the Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Center, and Ulf Anders Strandberg, chef of Gustaf Anders. Diners will begin with grilled eggplant crostini and gravad lax at the bar, then move on to four courses that will include shellfish risotto and rosemary roasted rack of lamb with bell-pepper confit. Five wines will be served. The price is $59 per person, excluding tax and gratuity. 1651 Sunflower Ave., South Coast Plaza Village, Santa Ana. (714) 668-1737.

Quick bites: Parker’s Seafood Grill on Balboa Peninsula has closed. The Laguna Hills Claim Jumper, closed for three weeks of remodeling, is open once again at 25332 McIntyre St.; (714) 768-0662. The former Shanghai Inn, in South Coast Plaza Village, has reopened with a new name--Jasmine, new management and a new phone number: (714) 966-8332.

Five Crowns will present an evening of food and wine, featuring offerings from Monticello Vineyards, on Tuesday. Chef Brian Roth will create the menu, and a representative of the winery, together with restaurant manager and wine enthusiast Phil Crowley, will discuss each wine. The evening will start with a reception at 6:30, with dinner afterward. Cost: $65 per person. The next in Five Crowns’ wine series will spotlight Jordan Vineyards on Nov. 12. 3801 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar; (714) 760-0331.

Daniel Kaeser, newly arrived from five-star hotels in Gstaad, Switzerland, is the new chef at the intimate (22 seat) Tete-a-Tete on Balboa Island. His dinner menu includes a roasted artichoke soup, large shrimp and sea scallops with angel hair pasta and basil pesto sauce, and filet mignon with wild forest mushroom sauce. The entrees, served from 5:30 to 10 p.m., average $18; lunches, 11 a.m. to 2:30, are about $7.50. Tuesdays through Sundays at 217 Marine Ave.; (714) 673-0570.

Fall cooking classes at Piret’s Bistro will include tropical holiday foods, taught by Alan Greeley, chef/owner of the Golden Truffle in Costa Mesa on Friday; make-ahead appetizers and hors d’oeuvres, Nov. 4; Italian regional cooking, taught by Vincenzo d’Agostino of Il Fornaio, Irvine (the second of a series), Nov. 14; Italian desserts (the third in a series), Nov. 18; and three entrees with chef Jean Pierre Lemanissier of Antoine in Newport Beach, Nov. 20. Class start at 6:30 p.m., except Italian regional cooking, which starts at 11 a.m. The sessions last about three hours and cost $38 (Italian dessert class costs $25). Piret’s is in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa; (714) 556-6424.