Casa Pacifica’s Yummie Top Chef Dinner This Friday – Media Welcome!

Camarillo, CA – The 9^th Annual Yummie Top Chef Dinner hosted by the Cassar Family will take place on Friday evening May 13^th at Rancho De Las Palmas in Moorpark, from 5:00-10:00 PM.  The Dinner has historically been held the Friday before Casa Pacifica’s award-winning Angels Wine, Food & Brew Festival at CSU Channel Islands (which is slated for Sunday, June 5^th this year), but this year will entertain its guests as a stand-alone event. All proceeds from both The Dinner and the Festival benefit Casa Pacifica’s mental health programs and services for foster and at-risk youth and their families. The Dinner will feature a seven-course dinner created by winning chefs from the Festival’s annual Yummie Culinary Competition.

            Chefs who will be creating the evening’s magic are recent Yummie Culinary Competition winners from 2021 – 1^st place winner Chef Alex Montoya of Water’s Edge, Waterside & Honey Cup, 2^nd place winner Chef Julia San Bartolome of Sweet Arleen’s, and 3^rd place winner Lisa Morris of LiMor Cakes. Former three-peat winner Chef Alex Castillo of Latitude 34 also joins the impressive line-up as does Chef Jason Collis, the Vice President of World Central Kitchen (we are looking forward to his presentation and hearing a little about the WCK’s recent work).  Past winner-turned-Yummie Culinary Competition Judge Chef Nic Manocchio of University Auxiliary Services CSU Channel Islands also joins the chef line up. The Dinner will include wine pairings by Opolo Vineyards, Magnavino Cellars, The Ojai Vineyard, and Brassfield Estate Winery, the 2022 Best in Fest Brew champion – Institution Ale’s RX Pils, with specialty cocktails by Rocks & Drams, and The Cappuccino Express rounding out the evening. And Chef Ali Kenis of Sugar Lab is creating a special treat for each of the guests!    

            The Yummie Top Chef Dinner Hosts, The Cassar Family, are joined by Michelin Sponsors: Susan Burgos and Rancho de las Palmas; Five Star Sponsor: Nevers, Palazzo, Packard, Wildermuth & Wynner, PC; Epicurean Sponsors: Timothy W. Bradley and Oakmont of Agoura Hills; Top Chef Sponsors: The Cook Family, Montecito Bank & Trust, Porta Stor, and Procter & Gamble; Master Sommelier Sponsors: Bill & Jewell Gerald Powell, Cellar Masters, Coast General Insurance Brokers, Masako & Kevin Nunn, Oak Asset Management, S.L. Leonard & Associates, Steve Elson, Ph.D., and Heidi & Mike Whitcomb. For more information about the Yummie Top Chef Dinner and a complete list of past Yummie Culinary Competition winners please visit cpwinefoodbrewfest.com.

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Casa Pacifica Centers for Children and Families is a crisis-care and residential treatment facility for foster and at-risk children in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Its mission is to inspire hope and nurture mental health and wellbeing of children, young adults, and families to realize their full potential. The agency is the largest non-profit provider of children’s mental health services in both counties and administers a number of community-based programs designed to strengthen families and keep children in their homes and communities. Casa Pacifica is also a foster family agency, which recruits and trains families for potential placement with a foster youth. For more information about Casa Pacifica visit its website www.casapacifica.org or call the Development & Public Relations Department at (805) 445-7800.