by Helen Freund, Tampa Bay Times
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold, food banks across the Tampa Bay area are seeing a sharp increase in the need for financial donations and food.

Oriana Cartaya and Daniel Matos were named the 2019 Winners of the Bern Laxer Memorial Scholarship.

In fall 2016, when reflecting upon the inaugural Sunday Supper Tampa Bay, I wrote that the James Beard Foundation (home of the culinary Oscars) had indeed knighted Tampa Bay as a culinary destination. By Jon Palmer Claridge of Creative Loafing  

Mallary is currently a student at Johnson and Wales University where she is attending to obtain a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts and food service management, thanks to the help of the Bern Laxer Memorial Scholarship fund.

Some of the great restaurant entrepreneurs are showboaters, using brash self-confidence as the path to legendary hospitality.

BT Nguyen leaned over the first plate, spreading bits of hearts of palm, mango, celery and sweet pepper on the plate, topping that with a ripe wedge of avocado and gently poached lobster, finishing the dish with a confetti of micro-herbs and passion fruit vinaigrette.

Twenty-six all-star chefs made dinner as the James Beard Foundation (home of the food world’s Oscars) joined with the Bern Laxer Memorial Scholarship to sponsor an unprecedented gastronomic blowout.

This just might be the dinner of the year. The Bern’s family of restaurants has organized a James Beard Foundation fundraiser to fund the Bern Laxer Memorial Scholarship for culinary students in the state of Florida for a number of years.