Alon and Emily Shaya Are Cooking Red Beans This Labor Day — And You’re Invited

James Beard Award-winning chef Alon Shaya and ‘Red Bean Queen’ Emily Shaya are throwing a red beans and rice dinner on Labor Day to benefit families in the service and hospitality industry affected by Hurricane Harvey. The dinner will take place at Prete a Fete (1232 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd) from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on September 4.

Emily Shaya’s lauded and well-documented red beans and rice, cornbread, desserts, Abita beer, and non-alcohlic drinks make up the menu. Tickets are $100, all going toward the goal of raising at least $20,000 for the affected service industry families.

"Our aim is to help our brothers and sisters in the service industry who lost everything. Right now, we're speaking with a few chefs in Houston and other friends in the industry to determine which fund to donate to. In the meantime, all the money we raise will be through the Shaya Barnett Foundation and then we'll transfer it over when something is set up," Alon Shaya said in an email to Eater NOLA.

Alon Shaya won the James Beard Award for Best Chef:South in 2015. His eponymous restaurant, Shaya, was named Best Restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation in 2016. Emily Shaya owns Prete a Fete, and event rental organization.

Tickets are available via Event Brite, through a link on the Shaya website and at the door. The event, held in conjunction with the Shaya Barnett Foundation, will donate 100% of the proceeds to that group.

MORE READING

• Emily Shaya’s Red Beans and Rice [SOUTHERN LIVING]
• Chef Alon Shaya’s New Book Is as Much a Memoir as it is a Cookbook [EATER]
• How Alon Shaya Opened 2015’s Biggest Restaurant in Only Three Months [EATER]
• Alon Shaya Wins Best Chef: South at The James Beard Awards [ENOLA]