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If you missed the culinary creativity of Watermark, Flyte, Zola and dozens of other excellent restaurants at last month’s Iron Fork, you get a second chance to sample the bounty at Generous Helpings, the annual fundraiser for Nashville’s Table and the culinary arts program at nashville Tech.

This year, as escalating food costs put strain on prepared-food rescue program Nashville’s Table and its parent, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, the event will play a heightened role in providing food to hungry families across Middle Tennessee.

On a lighter note, you can get a taste of some of Nashville’s best cuisine, from Ombi, Margot, Marché, Tayst, Eastland Café, Tin Angel, Sunset Grill, Mambu, Chappy’s on Church and Kalamatas, to name a few of the generous restaurants stepping up this year. Ombi chef Laura Wilson is chairing the event.

Previously named “Best Food Event” by the Scene, Generous Helpings 2008 will take place 6 to 9 p.m. May 28 at the Nashville Convention Center. Tickets are $40 in advance and $50 at the door. Patron tickets are available for $125, which includes valet parking and VIP access to bars and wine tastings. For tickets, visit secondharvestnashville.org or call 627-1565.

Hope to see you there.

After Flyte chef Bobby Benjamin's dramatic display of showmanship at Iron Fork, we've been all abuzz about Dippin' Dots—or at least about a non-trademark-infringing use of liquid nitrogen to create tiny frozen balls of flavor such as Bejamin's tomato-and-fiddlehead-fern “snow” from Iron Fork or the roasted parsnip “snow” that recently accompanied a seared blue marlin entree at Flyte.

So imagine our delight when the Dippin' Dots marketing team—including founder Curt Jones' daughter—stopped by our office this morning with samples of their new product, Dots 'n Cream. Packaged in traditional pint cartons, Dots 'n Cream is standard ice cream riddled with frozen pellets of the so-called Ice Cream of the Future. The Dot Squad also brought bags of original Dippin' Dots in a variety of flavors, which must be held at minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit to keep from melting. Since we lack the necessary cryogenic equipment for long-term storage, we ripped into the pouches of Dots before they melted, despite the fact that it was breakfast time.

Who doesn't like tiny beads of ice cream? Even though they are so cold they rip the skin off your tongue and lips, Dippin' Dots are just plain fun. Better still are the cartons of Dots 'n Cream, an intriguingly textured confection—we particularly enjoyed chocolate ice cream with mint Dots—that is stable at higher temperatures and consequently less injurious than the original minus-40-degree pellets.

Pretty soon, you'll be able to find Dots in Cream at Kroger and Walgreens. For now, you can try them and all Dippin' Dots products at four locations in the Nashville area, including two new pilot stores at 1100 Hillsboro Road in Franklin and Old Hickory Boulevard at Nippers Corner.

The Hillsboro Road location will celebrate its grand opening and the 20th anniversary of the founding of Dippin' Dots this weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, the store will offer discounts, games and prizes. On Saturday, Dippin' Dots inventor Curt Jones, a Nashville resident, will be on hand to demonstrate the science behind his famous frozen BBs at 1:30, 3 and 5 p.m.

(Someone please tell Chef Bobby.)

At the risk of sounding like a blog entry on StuffWhitePeopleLike.com, I can’t help but celebrate the annual coincidence of the Iroquois Steeplechase and the lesser-known cricket match between the Nashville Occasionals and Paget’s Marauders this weekend.

Like the thirstiest of Anglophiles, I’m already salivating for a tall glass of Pimm’s to sip as I ogle thoroughbreds and men in white trousers competing for glory on Nashville’s momentarily emerald fields. Currently, I’m busy devising a delivery system by which I will smuggle all the ingredients into the events without any glass bottles.

I’ve got it almost down to a science: Pour the Pimm’s No. 1 gin-based liquor into the plastic 2-liter bottle of the chosen mixer and carry the requisite mint, lemons, limes, oranges and cucumbers in a baggie, to be assembled on site in tall plastic glasses filled with ice.

But here’s the sticky wicket: What should the mixer be? I tend to go with sugar-free ginger ale, since I plan to be drinking a lot of the refreshing cocktail and don't want to OD on high-fructose corn syrup. But cases can be made for ginger beer, Sprite and 7-Up, and some folks like to top off with a splash of soda, which seems redundant on a hot day when the ice melts quickly.

I’m curious if any of you bartenders out there have a different spin on Pimm's. Wimbledon is coming up, and I hate to get in a rut.

While I was reading Carrington's review of Mad Donna's this week—you should check it out if you haven't already, it's one of her best—this passage struck me:

"While the renovation of the building dragged on for months last year, the team devised a menu that meanders through the greatest hits of Mexican, Italian, Middle Eastern, Asian and American cuisines."

Uh-oh. I have not been to Mad Donna's, and for all I know it's a culinary wonder. But has there ever been a good restaurant that mixed that many ethnic cuisines, or that served the U.N.'s Greatest Gustatory Hits in a way that did justice to any of them? Maybe Mad Donna's is the place; I don't know. But when I think of places that might fit that description—most of them with names like Happy O'Slappy's or Terwilligers' or Whipsnade P. Livelicue's, where the servers peer at you from behind a bullet-deflecting vestload of flair—I just have to wonder.

In other words: is there a Ruby-Tuesday-Applebee-Charley-type chain that's better than all the rest?

It's a good time to invest in squash futures. Starting next Wednesday, Nashville's choices for fresh, locally grown organic produce will expand with the grand opening of the new East Nashville Farmers' Market. Located just outside The Turnip Truck, at the corner of 10th and Woodland, the outdoor market will show off its wares from 4 to 7 p.m. with live music, giveaways, contests and discounts.

From the press release:

Market Manager Jennifer Barrie says she anticipates "a diverse mixture of products on opening day, including a variety of greens, broccoli, asparagus, herbs, onions, shittake mushrooms, strawberries, grass fed and pastured raised poultry, beef, pork, lamb, eggs, milk. There will also be natural dye clothing, candles and more."

The initial opening day list of all organic farmers includes Delvin Farms, Eatons Creek Organics, Gardner Grove, Hatcher Dairy, Jones Mill Farm and Certified Kitchen, Madison Creek Farms, Paradise Produce, Son Farm, Spring Haven Organic Farm, Three Meadows Farm, Timbertop Farm and West Wind Farm. Lisa's Greenhouse/Pipsesswa Herbs will join in the following week. Other vendors include Angel Radiance, Spiral Market Dyeworks and ASK Apparel.

The East Nashville Market's website, www.eastnashvillemarket.com, is online and will include market updates, a calendar of events, list of products and farmer profiles and links to participating farmer's websites.

Spread the word to The Veggie Cafe.

If you haven’t checked out chef Joe Shaw’s culinary revamping of The Standard at the Smith House, you can get a soupçon tonight at the restaurant’s inaugural wine tasting. Thursdays this summer, The Standard will pair appetizers with wines for just $5. Tonight, former Watermark sommelier Justin Maestas will present five summer whites. The event kicks off at 5:30 p.m. at the beautifully restored residence at 167 Rosa Parks Blvd.

If you've read this week's cover story about the Great Burger Challenge, you know that the editorial staff at 210 12th Ave. S. is still recovering from devouring 16 burgers in search of the city's finest chopped steak sandwich. We found a hands-down winner at PM (2017 Belmont Blvd.), where Arnold Myint packs a burger with onions sauteed in butter, then bastes it on the grill with a mixture of garlic, Thai chili sauce and pineapple juice and loads it onto a multigrain bun from Provence, slathered with wasabi mayo. Having now tasted that burger no fewer than half-a-dozen times in the past few weeks, all in the name of research (i.e. our meals could be expensed), we stand by our choice. The PM burger is a superstar.

Honorable mention goes to The Edgefield, Radius10 and Five Guys, who also took home top honors.

Twelve other burgers made it into the running, including Bobbie's Dairy Dip, 12 South Taproom, Ombi, Rotier's, Brown's Diner, Red Robin, The Palm, Capitol Grille, Cheeseburger Charley's, Whole Foods Market and Fat Mo's. We even tried a Hardee's Thickburger for good measure.

But, alas, even our intrepid colons have limitations, and we could not try every burger in town. For example, neither McCabe Pub nor J. Alexander's was nominated for the initial round of 16.

Over at 360 Bistro, chef John Crow recently introduced a burger (available only on weekends) of Kobe beef stuffed with foie gras, duck confit and black truffles and served on a buttered bun with tarragon aioli, preserved tomatoes, arugula and goat cheese. We haven't tried it yet, but we've seen people eating it, and...well, they looked really happy. (Of course, maybe they didn't yet know the burger cost $30, with a side of truffled parmesan fries.)

We're keeping a running list of burgers, in the event that we ever feel like eating another burger again. It will probably be a while, but when it's time for the Great Burger Challenge: The Sequel, what other contenders should we include?

If you have a product for Scene staff to taste and possibly write about, your odds of coverage are substantially higher if you time your delivery well. Take Sydney Garrett-Hayes, for example. She dropped off her delectable goodies from the Sydney Trading Company right around breakfast on Monday morning. That was just about the time Jack Silverman was thinking, “Hmm, if only I had a home-baked biscotti to dip into my coffee before I have to edit this raggedy dining review.” That's right around when Steve Haruch was thinking, “I need some rocky road fudge to help me write my biweekly tract of existentialist philosophy masquerading as a sports column.” Meanwhile, I was thinking, “Well, I haven't eaten in about 15 minutes, and there's, like, an hour till lunch.” And so we tore into STC's homemade fudge, coconut madeleines and almond brittle like villagers receiving a food-drop from the World Food Programme.

You may know Garrett-Hayes from The Standard restaurant on Eighth Avenue, where she prepares a selection of desserts to round out chef Joe Shaw's elegant menu of classic Southern-inspired dishes. When she's not making peach cobbler and pecan pie at the Standard, the queen of tarts is whipping up Sydney Trading Company's truffles, brittles, shortbreads, cookies, cakes, pies and crème brûlées, all of which can be delivered within a 20-mile radius of Nashville. She also offers a selection of boxed lunches and pastries, available with 48 hours' notice.

We particularly enjoyed the foot-long biscotti and the almond brittle, and we'd like to get our hands on some of STC's mission fig jam. To order from Sydney Trading Company, visit thesydneytradingcompany.com, or call Garrett-Hayes at 739-1212.

“Oh my God,” was all she said when the Secret Ingredient was revealed at last night's Iron Fork competition. Then Zola restaurant's chef Deb Paquette got to work on a potato brandad with beef tenderloin and shrimp and an apple turnover—both showcasing fiddlehead ferns—to take home the coveted Golden Fork.

Paquette's Mediterranean-inspired treatments of fiddlehead ferns trumped the outstanding efforts of Will Uhlhorn, Bobby Benjamin, Sean Norton and Clay Greenberg when the five chefs squared off at LP Field’s Stadium Club. The stunning array of culinary showmanship included a spring vegetable Napoleon, Thai curry beef, cod with butter-poached fiddleheads, roasted-tomato-and-fiddlehead soup, and salmon with smoked-tomato panzanella.

After the jump, Mr. Pink's random notes from the whirlwind of chaos, excitement and edible flora.

See you tonight at Iron Fork! Doors open at 6 p.m. at LP Field—I mean, Kitchen Coliseum. Tune in tomorrow for complete coverage, and be sure to say hello if you see us.

Tonight is Dining Out For Life, so if you dine in any one of 55 restaurants a portion of your bill will go to Nashville Cares' programs for people living with HIV/AIDS. I'd love it if you'd join me at Wild Iris.

Which brings me to this: I've been busily arranging a group of diners for the Wild Iris. It's a good thing I'm not in charge of the reservation book on a regular basis, because I clumsily stacked the dining room with a flight of 7 p.m. reservations. I can only hope the folks at the Iris can forgive my ham-handedness. But it brings up a point I'd like to discuss.

I recently got a question from a reader asking about seating protocol. She and a friend had an early reservation in a chic new hot spot, where they ordered dinner and a few drinks and were still sipping cocktails when their server asked them to please vacate their table for the next group. Needless to say, she felt a little dissed, especially while other groups were drinking cocktails, sans dinner at the adjacent tables. Is this standard operating procedure? What should happen in this type of situation?

We have two winners in our concurrent contests for the Iron Fork tickets.

As much as we hate to reward anyone for introducing the notion of pork belly-flavored pig rectum into the collective consciousness, we gotta give it up for Molly F.

Equally creative was Sloopy's recipe for the Vacation Sunburn Madwich—grilled pineapple, coconut mayo, slow-roasted pork and bacon on Hawaiian bread. Like they say, tan fat is better than pale fat.

You can collect your pairs of Iron Fork tickets at Will Call on Wednesday night. Doors open at 6 p.m.

You can buy Iron Fork tickets here.

After only a few short months, Fire & Ice Grill has closed. The short-lived Italian-American restaurant at 1805 Church St. was a project of Sitar restaurant owner Naresh Kumar and his nephew Benny Kumar. Prior to the launch of Fire & Ice, Naresh Kumar briefly operated Indian restaurant Madras Bhavan in the location.

With a sprawling menu of homemade pizzas, beef tips and various sandwiches, Fire & Ice was a time-intensive and non-lucrative project for the team, who have now purchased a gas station. Kumar has no plans to fill the spot, which is adjacent to the recently opened Suraj restaurant.

I must have been blinded by hunger while shopping for groceries today, because I mistakenly picked up a bag of cherry-flavored Craisins in lieu of the regular dried cranberries.

I'm sorry? Cherry-flavored dried cranberries? What's wrong with cranberry-flavored cranberries? Sure, I understood when Sunsweet started spritzing prunes with essence of lemon. Prunes are brown and drab, and they had become the perennial butt of constipation jokes. They clearly have an image problem, so if a little dab of citrus and a splash of yellow on the packaging helps eliminate the laxative stigma, I say spritz away. Or change your name to dried plums. Whatever works for you.

But cranberries, what have you got to be embarrassed about? Sure, there's the slightly delicate business about being good for yeast infections. But it's not like you've become synonymous with all things vaginal. And if you had, do you really think adding a cherry on the package helps matters? The extra flavor just gives you a slight hint of desperation—and cough syrup.

In the craven world of brand extensions, what's next? Orange-flavored grapefruit? Sprite-flavored Coke? Lettuce-flavored salad?

And so, Bites readers, I pose the question to you. Your next challenge in the quest for free Iron Fork tickets is to come up with the most absurdly redundant flavor layering.

And don't try saying bacon-flavored bacon. That would be just plain ridiculous.

If only every fundraiser were as simple as Dining Out For Life. All you do is eat a meal, and the restaurant gives a portion of your bill to Nashville Cares' programs to help people living with AIDS. There's no entry fee, no drink tickets and no crappy silent auction. Just a festive dinner (and also, in some cases, lunch) in one of 55 generous restaurants.

I'll be dining at Wild Iris that evening, tucking into a plate of chef Mike Kidd's pan-seared salmon with salsa verde served on baby greens with warm cherry tomatoes and Parmesan-roasted potatoes. Please join me at the Iris, or check out this list for dozens of other participating restaurants, who will donate anywhere from 30 to 105 percent of the proceeds from lunch and/or dinner.