'Taste Of TV' Event Coming To Long Island Restaurant

FARMINGDALE, NY — Chefs Eric LeVine and Robbie Jester are set to host their "Taste of TV" event at LeVine's restaurant, 317 Main Street, in Farmingdale.

Some of the proceeds from the event, scheduled for 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. May 8, will go to the Olivia Hope Foundation, which supports children fighting cancer.

Tickets are $150, plus gratuity. Tickets to the chefs' event can be bought here.

The event will be filled with "fun food and fundraising," LeVine told Patch. He added that the Olivia Hope Foundation is very special.

"I dedicated my last cookbook to Olivia, who I got to meet at Family Reach, and she had such an impact on me and such a fighter," LeVine said. "My good friend, Robbie Jester, who just won 'Pressure Cooker' on Netflix, is being generous enough to come and spend time with me cooking in my kitchen at 317 Main Street and to help raise funds for such a great foundation. We're excited to be cooking together, and to give hope."

Olivia Hope LoRusso was a happy and healthy girl who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. She died in 2017, but her vision and hope that children afflicted with AML and other childhood cancers will not have to suffer the way she did lives on through the Olivia Hope Foundation.

"Olivia always wanted to make everyone around her happy, whether it was by baking them something sweet to eat or just telling them how much she loved them," the foundation wrote about her. "Sometimes when her cousins would come over, they would play 'spa day,' and she would give them all foot massages. She truly had a servant's heart. We all deeply miss her."

While going through cancer treatments, Olivia decided she wanted to become a pediatric oncologist because she wanted to help find a cure for pediatric cancers.

"This is why we started the Olivia Hope Foundation," the page reads.

LeVine, through various courses, will prepare:

• Poached mussel with Thai basil sauce on curry mini waffle; garlic and cilantro shrimp with pickled asparagus; lemon cream; and caviar mini taco.
• "Sushi Master": Kompachi with citrus sesame shallot salad, soy lime sauce, scallops, and ginger beer sticky rice.
• "Alex vs. America": Red wine-braised pork belly on sweet pea risotto.
• "Chopped": Rice puff and pistachio butter "sushi" roll with Gummy Worm Sauce.

Jester's menu features:

• "Pressure Cooker": Scallop and pork belly fork with horseradish and whole grain honey mustard; Mama's Bolognese "Sandwich."
• "Pressure Cooker": Duet of Soups: Butternut squash and parsnip soups with candied bacon and chili crunch.
• "Pressure Cooker": Grilled chili scallop with Toybox Tomato Agrodulce and yellow pepper Romesco.
• "Beat Bobby Flay": Cavatelli shrimp with garlic butter sauce and arugula.