Berg and Del Grande’s Charity Wine Dinner Finds New Home After Annie Fire

Norman and Donna Lewis and Robert Del Grande

A FIRE EARLIER this week at The Annie Café & Bar may have closed the restaurant temporarily, but it didn't spoil the fundraising wine dinner that was supposed to take place there. Instead, the CanCare event relocated to one of Annie owner Ben Berg's other hot haunts — B&B Butchers on Washington — and came off beautifully. The first-time event sold out!

Organizers were grateful for the adaptability of not only Berg but also Annie's Chef Robert Del Grande, who is himself a cancer survivor, affirmed in comments to guests CanCare's lovely mission to lift up and inspire cancer patients and, uniquely, caregivers through one-on-one emotional support. No one endures cancer alone, the organization says. Shawntell McWilliams, also a cancer survivor, added her own remarks.

Del Grande's four-course meal featured pairings by Aperture Wines. The evening was also notable for its hobnobbing, cocktail-party vibe. Guests could hardly stay in their seats and instead for milling about the room, catching up with friends at the dawn of a post-Covid, unusually busy summer social swirl.

Guests included Bonnie and David Weekley, Jeanie and Jim Janke, Fady Armanious and Bill Baldwin, Elia and Michael Gabbanelli, Donna Josey Chapman, Cathy Brock, Megan Vondra, Betty and Jess Tutor, Tammy and Tim Andreas, Cathy Brock, Nancy and Tommy Tucker, and LaTricia Wilbanks.