Chris Kobayashi Joins Foundation For Excellence 2nd Annual Gourmet Farm Dinner

This September the Bishop Union High School Foundation for Excellence will be hosting their second annual gourmet farm-to-table benefit dinner. This year's Savour the Sierra will take place on Saturday, September 10, 2011 at Talbot Land and Livestock, a working cattle ranch in Round Valley just north of Bishop.

This unique and sure-to-be-exquisite Savour the Sierra dinner will be created by Celebrity Chef Chris Kobayashi of award winning Artisan restaurant in Paso Robles. Chef Kobayashi will use locally grown meats and vegetables in the preparation of this epicurean feast. Each course will be paired with specially selected California central coast wines to complement the meal.

Farm dinners continue to be a growing phenomenon throughout the country, going hand in hand with the trend of people wanting to buy locally grown produce that comes from sustainable small farms - forging the connection between farming, cooking, and eating.

Chef Kobayashi is a 1990 graduate of Bishop Union High School himself. His brother Michael is a co-owner and the general manger of Artisan. Kobayashi's Artisan restaurant is built upon his attention to detail, focus on locally sourced ingredients, and his fervor for refined cuisine. At Artisan he prepares meals based on the seasonal availability of local and organic produce. He serves wild caught fish and sustainably farmed meats. Among his awards and recognition, Chris Kobayashi received a coveted nomination as a semi-finalist for Best Chef Pacific by the James Beard Foundation Awards in both 2009 and 2011. Among others, Artisan has been featured in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Bon Appetit, Sunset, National Geographic Traveler, and Wine Spectator magazines.

Talbot Land and Livestock is a family run cattle ranch owned by brothers Tom and Bill Talbot. Raising their cattle in a sustainable fashion they strive to produce high quality, wholesome, nutritious beef. Utilizing animal welfare friendly practices they help to carry on the traditions of rural family owned agricultural operations so important to our society today. At Savour the Sierra guests will get to tour the working cattle ranch and then dine at elegantly-set tables in the fields of the ranch.

Savour the Sierra is offering an exciting, unique opportunity for four individuals to be part of Chef Kobayashi's Culinary Team. The four sous chefs will dine privately with the chef Friday night and on Saturday, they will work side by side with him preparing the feast from beginning to end. The $650 donation to the Foundation for Excellence for this once in a lifetime, two day experience supports the continued technology upgrades benefiting students at Bishop Union High School. Please visit the website noted below for information about how to apply.

For the past 26 years the Foundation for Excellence has supported the teachers and students of Bishop Union High School with the funds they have raised by hosting unique and delicious benefit dinners. Currently the focus of the Foundation is to help modernize the classrooms at the high school through the investment in state-of-the-art electronic instructional equipment. Over the past several years the Foundation has purchased over $80,000 of electronic classroom devices for use in English, science, history, government and language classes. The Foundation is a 501 (c) 3.

The cost for this unique farm dinner experience is $175. To make your reservation, or for more information about Savour the Sierra, Chef Kobayashi, Talbot Land and Livestock, or the Foundation for Excellence please visit www.savourthesierra.com or call (760) 872-4431.

# # #