Top NJ chefs to cook meals tableside at food rescue fundraiser. Here's how to get tickets

More than two dozen of New Jersey’s best chefs will cook and serve multi-course dinners tableside on Sept. 25 at Edgewood Country Club in River Vale as part of a gala supporting Table to Table , a nonprofit that rescues food and delivers it to food pantries in North Jersey.

Guests will begin the evening with a cocktail hour, including drinks from local mixologists and craft brewers and grab-and-go bites from Jersey restaurants. Then, they’ll be ushered into the banquet hall, where chefs will prepare a “signature” three-course meal, with wine pairings, for 20 people each.

“To watch these masters work with their ingredients, to watch them cook, plate and serve to you is pretty amazing,” says Table to Table Executive Director Heather Thompson.

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This unique culinary experience is in celebration of Table to Table’s 25th anniversary. The organization began in 1999 with one person, Claire Insalata Poulos, making deliveries in one van, but has since flourished into a nonprofit that last year rescued more than 23 million pounds of food from grocery stores, food delivery services, farms and restaurants that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill.

It delivered the rescued food to over 200 food pantries and community kitchens in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris and Passaic counties.

More: Americans waste nearly half their food. How can we reduce food waste in New Jersey?

Although Table to Table has run fundraising galas with local chefs in the past, this is the first year the organization has worked with so many chefs to create curated, personal dining experiences. Thompson said the North Jersey dining industry has always supported Table to Table’s mission.

“Table to Table has had such an incredible connection with the chef and restaurant community really since day one,” Thompson said.

“We had chefs from the region who stepped up right away to be a part of it and show support," she said. "It’s always been central to our network and so having an opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary by having some of the chefs who’ve been with us for a long time as well as some newer, amazing chefs be a part of this was really exciting for us.”

Lending their culinary expertise and support in rostering the lineup are chefs and event co-chairs Ryan DePersio (Battello and Kitchen Step in Jersey City, Ember and Eagle in Eatontown) and AJ Capella (executive chef at Summit House in Summit).

Jamie Knott is this year's chef honoree

Jamie Knott, the much acclaimed chef-owner of Saddle River Inn, Madame, Kinjo and Cellar 335, is this year’s chef honoree, as he’s supported the organization’s mission for years. Knott sees parallels between the work he does in his esteemed kitchens to ensure guests have satisfying meals and the work Table to Table does to help ensure folks have any meals at all.

“I don’t want to get too spiritual or get preachy but there was alway a deeper meaning for me in the restaurant business and that starts with being a positive part of somebody’s occasion, and we can’t take that for granted,” Knott said.

“That’s what Table to Table does — it utilizes food waste and helps food insecurity, and people don’t think about it on a deeper level unfortunately because they open their refrigerator and have whatever they want," Knott said.

“There are a lot of people who suffer from food insecurity,” he continued. “Table to Table is a natural fit and something for me to love and find some solace in the organization.”

Thompson says she’s seen that same deeper connection to addressing food insecurity from the chefs Table to Table has worked with in the past.

“They’re naturally generous people," she said. "They are nurturing. They want to feed, they want to help, they want to support.”

"When you couple that with reducing food waste and redirecting high quality food to the community members that need it, it’s such a natural fit for chefs,” Thompson said.

Knott is excited about the chefs lined up to participate in the event, including “super talented cook” Leia Gaccione ( South + Pine , Morristown); Melissa Stanard ( the goods ) who’s got “the best focaccia in the state”; the “lights out” Antonio Da leso ( Fiorentini , Rutherford); Lawrence Talis ( Blue Steel Pizza Co ., Bloomfield), “probably the most underrated chef in the state”; and Ehren Ryan (Common Lot and Byrd) about whom Knott says, “I go wherever he is and eat there.” Plus, so many more.

The wrinkle here is guests won’t get to choose which chef’s table they’ll be seated at. That’s part of the fun, Thompson said, and only possible because Knott, DePersio, Capella and the Table to Table team recruited the best of the region to participate.

“It will be a surprise, but every chef is so high-caliber, there’s no way you can have a bad experience at this gala,” Thompson says.

Food insecurity: ‘It’s everywhere, it’s prevalent and it’s under-discussed’

Although Table to Table and other organizations are getting food into the hands of those who need it, the need is also greater than ever before. In New Jersey, about one in 10 people face food insecurity; that is, they lack consistent access to enough nutritious food.

Communities of color face food insecurity at a rate more than three times higher than white communities. And while COVID pandemic safety net programs helped for a bit, the end of relief funding and eviction moratoria has put many people in bad positions, Thompson says.

Food insecurity has risen in the last few years for the general population, and children experience it at an even higher rate — about 13.2% of kids in New Jersey don’t have consistent access to healthy food, according to the state .

“It’s heartbreaking to see the statistics about children and families, seniors, these most vulnerable populations that tend to struggle the most with this,” Thompson says. “It is hard to imagine in this part of New Jersey, right? We’re surrounded by a lot of resources and there are pockets among all of our neighbors who are having a hard time.”

Like homelessness, food insecurity isn’t always easy to recognize, Thompson said.

“Yes, in some of our communities you might see people panhandling or sleeping on a park bench and that becomes the idea of struggle and poverty, but it’s also working families who work lower paying jobs that just can’t afford the cost of living in New Jersey, or it’s seniors living on fixed incomes or it’s families who are relying on the schools to feed their kids during the school year, who then struggle during the off months,” she said.

Knott agreed. “We throw more food away than anything else on the planet on a daily basis,” he said. “I live in Nutley, and we have a food shelter and they’re always in need of food, which is crazy to think because it’s a middle-class town." Food insecurity "is everywhere, it’s prevalent and it’s under-discussed."

Fleet of six refrigerated trucks

Table to Table uses 98 cents of every dollar toward operating their food rescue and delivery services, which includes a fleet of six refrigerated delivery trucks that typically pick up from a grocery store or meal delivery service, and deliver those goods the same day to a food pantry in North Jersey.

Thompson says about 60% of what the organization delivered last year was produce and over 83% was perishable, ensuring that those in need don’t only get the canned and processed goods, but also fresh, nutritious produce, dairy, meats and more.

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Through their Table to Table I-Rescue app, folks interested in helping the organization can get hands-on. People can download the app and volunteer to take a small donation — say, 10 boxes of fruit — from a company to a local food bank if it suits their schedule. Thompson says there are about 400 current users, but more are always appreciated.

Knott says one of Table to Table’s greatest strengths is that it makes it easy for people on all ends of the food system to save good food and get it to people who need it.

“They take the guessing game and the work out of it,” he says. “It’s everything. People want easy, and they make it easy, which is why it’s such a beautiful thing and it makes so much sense.”

Thompson says the goal is to raise $500,000 at this year’s gala, which will directly address food insecurity in North Jersey — every dollar raised equals roughly 10 meals delivered to those in need.

Individual tickets go for $650, or you can reserve a table for 10 for $6,000. If you can't afford it, there are other ways to help.

“The more we get the word out about what we do, the more food donors we have signing on, the more community partners we’re able to support,” Thompson says. “But having enough volunteers to facilitate doing that is really critical.”

Here are the chefs participating

• Mary Cumella, Gioia Mia
• Logan Ramirez , Gioia Mia
• Guiseppe Agostino , Verana
• John Michael Beam , Afficionado Coffee Roasters
• Luis Blasini-Sinchi , 7 Doors Down Ramen
• Anthony Bucco , Landmark Hospitality
• Brandon Campney , Sterling Inn
• Carlo Carbonaro , Bottagra
• Robert Vicari , Bottagra
• Thomas Ciszak , Brasserie Memere
• Bianca Concepcion , Fossil Farms
• Ben Del Coro , Fossil Farms
• Antonio De Ieso , Fiorentini
• Leia Gaccione , South + Pine American Eatery
• Alex Grant , Axia Taverna
• Felix Gonzalez , Viaggio
• Matt Gregg , Barnegat Oyster Collective
• Corey Heyer , Canoe Brook Country Club
• Andrea Lekberg , Artist Baker
• Christina Marcelli , Marcelli Formaggi
• Hank Mazur , Mazur Chocolates
• Halle Medici , Saddle River Inn
• Sal Pisani , Jersey Artisan Co.
• Ehren Ryan , Common Lot, Birdy
• Dean Schreefer , Echo Lake Country Club
• Robert Sigona , Gelotti
• Tom Silvestri , Ora
• Melissa Stanard , The Goods
• Lawrence Talis , Blue Steel Pizza Co.
• Joe Tartamella , Felina
• Geoff Taylor , 130 Club

Matt Cortina is a food reporter for NorthJersey.com/The Record. Send him food tips and feedback at mcortina@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Top NJ chefs to cook meals tableside at food rescue fundraiser. Here's how to get tickets