Local, national chefs to use summer faves at Fl.2 dinner

Fl.2 at the Fairmont Pittsburgh hotel, Downtown, is hosting a Guest Chef Dinner with local and out-of-town chefs, who will show off specialties using their favorite summer ingredients.

Local participants are the coordinating chef, Julio Peraza of Fl.2, plus Kevin Sousa, owner and executive chef of Superior Motors in Braddock, and Casey Renee, pastry chef at Whitfield at the Ace Hotel in East Liberty. Out-of-town chefs are Jason Purcell of the Fairmont Austin in Texas and Brian Howard of Sparrow + Wolf in Las Vegas. The dinner will be held at 6 p.m. on July 21, with arrival and canapes starting at 5 p.m.

Tickets are $95, plus $35 for the optional wine pairing.

Canapes will include milk-fed lamb pate en croute, sugar snap pea and fermented garlic honey by Mr. Howard; sweet corn fritter, cured ham and allium by Mr. Purcell; chicken liver mousse, pickled wild sour cherry, bitter chocolate brioche and spice bush by Mr. Sousa; tomatillo macaroon, headcheese pipil, xnipec salsa and pickled red onion by Mr. Peraza; and spiced doughnut hole with sweetened chevre by Ms. Renee.

Each chef also will commandeer a course of the dinner. Guests will be able to look on as the chefs cook, and each chef will discuss what inspired the course. The main courses, in order, are: Japanese hamachi carpaccio, roasted grapes, fennel and burnt Sichuan chili by Mr. Howard; foie gras tart, smoked pistachio, bourbon, peach sofrito and oat crisp by Mr. Purcell; walleye or trout with fermented corn, smoked chanterelle and nasturtium by Mr. Sousa; yucca gnocchi, cured beef tongue, beef cheeks, hoja santa and caviar by Mr. Peraza; and honey cake with sour cream glaze, berries and bee pollen by Ms. Renee.

Mr. Peraza arrived in Pittsburgh seven months ago after working in restaurants on the West Coast and in Texas.

“There are a lot of talented chefs here and a lot of good things happening in the city,” he said. A dinner at Superior Motors convinced him to include Mr. Sousa in the first Guest Chef Dinner.

Mr. Purcell is a Fairmont colleague of Mr. Peraza, and Mr. Howard gave him his first job in Las Vegas. Mr. Howard has worked under the famed Thomas Keller, won a number of culinary awards, appeared on Food Network’s “Chopped” and represented sustainable seafood at the James Beard House in New York.

Just as he is excited to introduce national chefs to Pittsburgh, Mr. Peraza also wants to show off Pittsburgh chefs to the nation’s culinary scene.

“The chefs who are coming in are going to be impressed with what chef Kevin and chef Casey are doing for the city,” he said.

So, what kind of dinner is this exactly?

It’s not any one type of cuisine. Rather, it’s “a chefdriven inspirational menu,” said Mr. Peraza, who describes his own cuisine as French with roots traceable to his Latin heritage, With his restaurant being located in the Chinatown section of Las Vegas, Mr. Howard features Asian flavors and also modern American ones. While Mr. Purcell offers a Caribbean/French mix.

The dinner will be limited to 75 guests to keep things intimate. Guests who miss this one need not fret; Mr. Peraza is planning another Guest Chef Dinner for the winter.

For reservations, call 412773-8848. For information, visit fl2pgh.com.