RETAIL : S. Coast Plaza Village Chef Ulf Strandberg to Prepare N.Y. Dinner

What should an award-winning chef cook when he’s in the kitchen of a culinary legend?

Ulf Anders Strandberg, co-owner of Gustaf Anders in South Coast Plaza Village, will face that challenge on June 21 when he travels to New York to prepare a dinner at Beard House, home of the James Beard Foundation.

Noted chef Julia Child set up the foundation in 1986 to honor the late James Beard, a well-known chef and author. Beard House in Greenwich Village was where Beard made his home. It now hosts weekly dinners prepared by renowned chefs.

Strandberg’s dinner at Beard House will start with aquavit, a Scandinavian liquor. Guests will then be served wild rice pancakes with smoked salmon and bleak roe; nettle soup with spring morel tarte; baby red beets with lemon dressing; leg of lamb with sweet-sour dill sauce; new potatoes and princess cake with wild strawberries. The dinner ends with coffee and more aquavit.

Sound appetizing? Gustaf Anders will offer a sneak preview of the meal, absent the soup course, on May 25 for $65 a diner.