Cooking for a Cure

Dan Budd, owner of the fantastic Taste Budd’s Café in Red Hook, lost his sister to a brain tumor in 2000. This Sunday, he’ll gather some of his friends – all GREAT chefs – for a fund-raiser to benefit the National Brain Tumor Foundation.

From 6 to 9:30 p.m. at his café, you can enjoy a dessert reception with Taste Budd's delicious desserts and freshly brewed coffees, and watch demos by some noted chefs. Topics include elegant hors d’oeuvres by Culinary Institute of America chef-instructor Dan Turgeon, and decorative and delicious breads by CIA chef-instructor and Certified Master Baker Richard Coppedge and Hawthorn Valley Farm baker David DeCesare.

Budd, who spent years creating pastries and desserts in some of the world's finest hotels and restaurants in America and France, is a 1987 CIA graduate and former CIA chef-instructor. Both Chocolatier and Pastry Art and Design magazines named him on their lists of the "Ten Best Pastry Chefs in America." He has been nominated as "Pastry Chef of the Year" by the James Beard Foundation and has appeared on The TV Food Network, Good Day New York and Good Morning America. This chef does amazing things with chocolate. Maybe you've sampled his over-the-top-they're-that-good desserts at area events such as the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival, or enjoyed his famous cream puff at the Dutchess County Fair. He’ll talk at Sunday’s event about “the art of tarts.”

Online price is $30 or $38 at the door. More info and online tickets are at his Web site. Taste Budd’s Café is at 40 West Market Street in the village of Red Hook. 845-758-6500.