5- Course Top Chef Dinner with Chef Shirley Chung
Event Ended: Tuesday March 7th, 2023
Word is out and we have our next Top Chef Dinner lined up for an exciting evening of creative dishes, craft cocktails and mingling.
Join us on March 7th, at 6:30pm as we welcome fellow Bravo TV #TopChef Alums, Chef Shirley Chung and Chef Silvia Barban to our kitchen for a collaborative 5-course interactive dinner and cocktail experience.
The dinner will include 5-courses, each prepared and presented by Katsuji, Shirley and Silvia in their signature styles, paired with craft cocktails from a’Verde’s mixologist team.
Reservations
Make your reservations right now and surprise your friends and family with a gift to remember.
Seats are $175 per person and include a 5-course dinner and cocktail pairings*
*Plus tax and gratuity
Reservations can be made on Eventbrite as a $50 pre-paid seat, which will be deducted from your check after dinner service the night of the event.
Note: Please purchase the number of tickets needed for your party to dine together. I.E. Table of four would require four tickets in your order.
If you are purchasing your tickets separately than other guests who have already purchased, you can email your seating requests to MStokes@LMRest.com and every effort will be made to have you be seated with your party.
Reserve Your SeatMeet the Chefs
Shirley Chung
Top Chef New Orleans and Charleston
A native of Beijing, and a proud Chinese-American, Chef Shirley Chung of Ms Chi Cafe brings a playfulness and refinement of flavors to her culinary creations. Shirley immigrated to America at age 17 for college and worked in Silicon Valley before following her passion for food. She attended the California Culinary Academy San Francisco and was trained in classic French, Italian, Latin and Chinese cuisines working with Thomas Keller at Bouchon, Guy Savoy, Mario Batali at Carnevino, and Jose Andres at China Poblano. In 2013, Shirley was a chef contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef series Season 11 New Orleans where she finished in the Top 3 and was invited to compete again in 2016 on Top Chef Season 14 Charleston where she was awarded as the runner up.
In 2022, Shirley was a chef competitor on Guy Fieri’s Tournament of Champions on the Food Network. In a partnership with her husband Jimmy Lee, Shirley showcases her Chinese heritage, signature dumplings and progressive Chinese-American cuisine at Ms Chi Cafe in Culver City, CA and on Goldbelly.com. After she served as the inaugural chef of Abernethy’s, a new restaurant concept and chef-driven project at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles, she was invited to be on the board of Music Center Culinary Council. And recently, Shirley, and her colleagues, launched Dumpling Mafia NFT which is the first chef driven NFT on the market, connecting her passions, food and innovations, and building communities bridging food, art and the crypto world.
Shirley’s additional TV appearances include: serving as a chef mentor for HBO MAX show The Big Brunch; regular appearances on Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Game and Guy’s Ranch Kitchen. Serving as a judge and mentor on Top Chef Amateurs; a judge on Top Chef Family Style; a judge on FOX’s Hell’s Kitchen; and guest chef appearances on the TODAY Show, the Good Dish, Hallmark’s Home & Family Show, Tastemade’s Make This Tonight, Food Network’s The Globe, Food Network’s Big Food Bucket List, Pickler & Ben, The Steve Harvey Show, and more.
Katsuji Tanabe
Partner Chef and Culinary Innovator, a’Verde Cocina and Tequila Library
Top Chef Boston, Mexico, Charleston
Born in Mexico City to Mexican and Japanese parents, Chef Katsuji Tanabe is the Executive Chef
and creative force behind a’Verde in Cary, North Carolina. Like many growing up in Mexico City,
food played an integral part in Katsuji’s upbringing via his family’s table.
Passionate about hospitality from a young age, Katsuji started his restaurant journey as a
dishwasher at a fine-dining catering company. As a Top Chef, NBC Food Fighters, and PBS
Cooking Under Fire alum, as well as Chopped champion (just to name a few), additional stops
along the way included immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 18, working as a pastry chef, and
graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in California.
Always drawing inspiration from other cultures, Katsuji has used his own heritage, travels,
experience, and passions to lead his culinary journey. This includes creating the first-ever Kosher
Mexican restaurant in New York City, serving heritage-inspired dishes while living in Chicago,
working in the fine-dining scene of Los Angeles, and pursuing self-guided work studies in Japan
and fine-dining restaurants across the U.S.
Recently relocated to the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina, Katsuji enjoys the bountiful
produce found throughout the region, which helps him carry out his vision for a’Verde, his most
personal project to date.
At a’Verde, Katsuji proudly introduces the South to his unique marriage of Mexican cuisine
alongside the largest tequila library in the region. Utilizing equal parts traditional and modern
flavors and styles, Katsuji presents surprising dishes that lack pretension while delivering
authenticity. Beyond the cuisine and equally important to his vision is the restaurant experience,
where he injects a celebratory atmosphere in a whimsical, yet comfortable space.
While spearheading a’Verde, which is part of the LM Restaurant family, Katsuji proudly serves as
the group’s Culinary Innovator, bringing renewed life and fresh ideas to LM Restaurant’s variety
of restaurants throughout the Southeast.
Silvia Barban
Top Chef and Restauranteur
Top Chef Charleston
I was born and raised in Northern Italy, and spent my summers in southern Italy where my Mother’s family lives. I grew up cooking with my grandmother and always admired her ability to bring people together through her cooking. She took me under her wing and provided me with an outlet for all my wild child energy! She became sick and passed away when I was 10, which was when I decided I wanted to cook for people in a way to make them happy and bring everyone together. Cooking makes me feel so close to her in a way I wouldn’t otherwise.
I eventually graduated from “E.Maggia” Stresa culinary school, and found my way in the kitchen of the Maestro of Italian cuisine, Gualtiero Marchesi. I worked as a pastry chef, learning to cook modern and traditional dessert for Giancarlo Perbellini, and later moved into the kitchen as Chef de Partie. In 2012, I jumped at the opportunity to move to New York for the opening of Giovanni Rana Pastificio e Cucina. I was originally meant to be a part of a three month consulting team, but stayed on as sous chef, relishing the opportunity to work in Manhattan. Two years later I received an offer to become Executive Chef at Aita in Brooklyn, where I directed the restaurant using fresh local produce to create traditional and modern Italian dishes. In 2016, I competed in Season 14 of Bravo’s Top Chef. At the same time I had decided to open a new restaurant along with my now partners. I opened Larina Pastificio e Vino in Fort Greene Brooklyn as Chef and Co-Owner upon my return from filming where I use the inspiration of my childhood in Northern and Southern Italy as well as my current travels in my dishes.