Gabby Hits the Share Our Strength Dinner at Harry’s Savoy Ballroom in Wilmington, Delaware: She Sees Kasia Butler, Dan Butler of Piccolina Toscana, Hari Cameron of Nage in Rehoboth, Patti McBride, Larry McBride, Debbie Shore and Xavier Teixido

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SOS-ing at Harry’s

Gabby has found the secret to looking fabulous. Rather, I’ve found the person who absolutely must know the secret, and maybe if we all gang up on her, she’ll spill. I’m talking about Kasia Butler, wife to master chef Dan Butler of Piccolina Toscana and Deep Blue fame. I ran into the super-svelte Kasia at the Share Our Strength dinner to end child hunger at Harry’s Savoy Ballroom, and if she can be married to Dan Butler and still look like that, sister knows something we don’t. Dan was serving delicious crostini topped with robiola cheese for the pre-dinner reception. He was joined by fellow super chef Hari Cameron, of Rehoboth’s Nage, who provided a mouthwatering heritage suckling pork confit, Kennett Square mushrooms, cipollini, dried cherries, mustard seed and organic mâche. That’s fancy speak for “yum.”
The talk of the evening was food, naturally, but I snuck up on Patti McBride who was bidding on the largest wheelbarrow of wine I’ve ever seen, donated by Wilmington’s Kreston Wine & Spirits. “We’re retired,” she said sheepishly, pointing to the bottles. “This is what we do!” She and husband Larry McBride had a grand time. “I ate raw fish for the first time,” she said. “I was skeptical, but it went down just marvelous.”
Debbie Shore, co-founder of Share Our Strength, hopped a train from D.C. to check in with pal Xavier Teixido, owner of Harry’s. “Let me tell you how important Wilmington is to us,” Shore said. “When we started this event about 23 years ago, we didn’t know anyone and no one knew us. We weren’t in the restaurant industry. We were just cold calling people. I got Xavier’s name, called him, and he said, come and talk. He picked me up, took me to his restaurant, and he was in. I was so touched and admired him so much for his vision for getting behind something that he knew absolutely nothing about.”
Speaking of vision, a few men brought their A-game in the threads department. Dentist Dr. John Burke of Pike Creek made his wife Molly blush as he did a catwalk turn in his smart seersucker suit; and for maybe the first time, Ben LeRoy’s clothes were the topic of conversation, and not wife Betsy LeRoy’s amazing pies at Pizza by Elizabeths. His blue-and-white dragon-print jacket was a welcome change from the usual black-tie fanfare. Well played, Mr. LeRoy.
 

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