UMES hosts gourmet dining event PRINCESS ANNE, MD (wesm) - When the students and faculty of the department of hotel and restaurant management at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore don their chef's hats to prepare for an evening of gourmet dining, it's one hot ticket.

One hundred lucky diners will be able to purchase a ticket for the department's Princess Anne Seafood Extravaganza on Friday, December 5, at 7 p.m. in the Richard Henson Center Ballroom. Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased only in person at the Richard Henson Center, Room 2114, beginning Friday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday until they are sold out. No tickets will be available at the door.

As this is traditionally a sell-out event, tickets are on a first come, first serve basis, said Richard Gormley, lecturer in the department of hotel and restaurant management at UMES. In order to accommodate a wide variety of community patrons, individual ticket sales are limited to a maximum of one table of eight.

No phone reservations will be taken. Checks or money orders made payable to UMES only. No cash. No refunds.

This is the final graded event for the students in the commercial food management course. The gourmet dinner is totally student driven. Students are involved in every aspect. It is the students' intention to exceed their guests' expectations, said Chef Ralston Whittingham, lecturer in the department of hotel and restaurant management at UMES.

This year's dinner will feature a reception prior to the main event with shrimp cocktail, lumpia, fresh seasonal fruits and a carving station of balsamic honey glazed pork loin. A six course dinner featuring a seafood surprise amuse, Creole shrimp bisque soup, gravlax and jumbo crab lumps duet with spearmint salsa appetizer, blacken ginger tuna and curry buttered lobster tail entr e, sweet and white potatoes herbal hash and seafood jus lie accompaniment, lime sorbet intermezzo and a raspberry mousse tartlet with HRM bourbon Anglaise sauce dessert and a final surprise course will be served. Each course will be accompanied with an appropriate wine selected by the class sommelier.

For more information, call Angie Price at 410-651-6563. Reservations will not be taken at this number.
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