Several dining events are on tap in the weeks ahead.
La Cucina di Hampden House in HampdenLa Cucina di Hampden House in Hampden has started out a new year by launching a new web site, LaCucinaHampden.com. The site features menus, information on upcoming events, an on-line store to purchase gift certificates, and a link to the restaurant's Facebook page.
Event listings at the site include the lounge's entertainment schedule as well as news about various social gatherings the restaurant sponsors.
La Cucina is also holding "Town Appreciation Nights" every Wednesday and Thursday, with a different area community focused each month. Residents of the community being honored get a complimentary appetizer with the purchase of two entrees. January is Longmeadow's turn for this appreciation designation.
Starting February 1 La Cucina will begin offering no-charge delivery service.
For more information, contact La Cucina di Hampden House at (413) 566-8324.
On Saturday and Sunday, January 21 and 22, wine lovers and wine professionals from throughout the Northeast will be descending on Boston's Seaport World Trade Center for Boston Wine Expo 2012.
A two-day public tasting event, the Expo features over 300 exhibitors who offer opportunities to taste 1,800 different wines and sample food specialties from around the globe.
A number of private tastings and educational seminars are also being held during the Expo's two-day run.
Tickets to the two-day event start at $145 per person; one-day pricing is available as well. For more information on the Wine Expo, go to wine-expos.com. Tickets may also be purchased on line.
Details can also be had by calling 877-946-3976.
Those interested in the food traditions of New England should mark their calendars for Historic Deerfield's upcoming winter lecture series.
Entitled "Gathering, Gardening, Preserving: Exploring Local Food in New England," the series will begin with a presentation on Jan. 22 by Debra Friedman, head of interpretation at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge. Friedman's topic will be 19th-century food preservation.
Future lectures will include a February 26 talk by John Forti of Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH. Forti will speak on the useful plants our New England forbearers cultivated.
The series will conclude on March 18 with food historian Sandra L. Oliver, who will discuss the evolution of recipes and food preparation techniques through our region's history.
All three lectures will be held at the Deerfield Community Center. Each will commence at 2 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
For more information visit www.historic-deerfield.org
On Jan. 20, Chez Josef in Agawam will host the 22nd annual Chefs for Jimmy fundraiser.
Scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., the event offers the opportunity to sample specialties from more than thirty local restaurants, including Springfield's 350 Grill, Chandler's Restaurant in South Deerfield, Delaney's Grill and Eighty Jarvis (both of Holyoke), and Fazio's Ristorante as well as area caterers, country clubs, and artisan food producers.
Tickets are $75 and can be purchased on line at jimmyfund.org. For more details, contact Kelly See at (617) 582-7916.
Mionetto Prosecco, which bills itself as "America's Favorite Prosecco Brand, is sponsoring a Mionetto Mixology Masters Challenge, a competition that Mionetto USA, the brand's importer, has organized to find the best cocktail made with Prosecco, the light, slightly sweet sparkling wine from Italy.
The competition offers two divisions, one for professional mixologists and a second for amateur cocktail enthusiasts. Grand prize is a trip to Italy for two.
Recipe entries for cocktails using Mionetto Prosecco can be submitted to www.MionettoMixology.com. Cocktails will be judged on taste, creativity, presentation, and inspiration. Deadline for entries is March 20, 2012.
Joe Stevens at the Hofbrauhaus in West Springfield tells me he's been working to make the restaurant's Sunday brunch an even better value than before.
"At a time when other places have been raising their prices, we've held the line on our brunch," he says.
At the same time he's maintained the wide selection of dishes offered, he adds, asserting "[his] buffet has something for everyone."
Bavarian specialties like Sauerbraten and veal Esterhazy make regular appearances on the brunch menu, as do main dish favorites like stuffed manicotti and filet of sole.
"We also work hard to make sure the buffet as fresh and appetizing for the last customer of the day as it is for the first," Stevens says.
All the desserts, which include fruit tarts, cakes, trifles, and mousse, are made from scratch, Stevens adds, and the restaurant strives whenever possible to source fresh ingredients locally.
The Hofbrauhaus serves brunch every Sunday from 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. through Fathers' Day. The restaurant answers at (413) 737-4905.