Scott Crawford, former chef at the Umstead Hotel and Spa as well as The Cloister Hotel on Georgia’s Sea Island, will come to Wilmington’s manna for a fundraiser Thursday.
 
The event is the third annual Ellie White Foundation fundraiser dinner and silent auction, and all proceeds will support medical research to find a cure for Wolfram Syndrome, a rare neurodegenerative disorder.
 
The restaurant reports that there are still a few seats left for the benefit dinner, which begins at 6 p.m. with passed hors d’oeuvres and the auction, followed at 7 p.m. by a four-course dinner prepared by Crawford and the manna culinary team.
 
“Like us, Scott is an avid supporter of local, organic, sustainable produce, so to provide a menu might be putting the grocery cart before the horse,” manna’s news release stated.
 
The restaurant is anticipating a mixed green salad with some enhancements, a second course of roasted local white fish, a main course of red chile-braised pork cheek, and a to-be-determined dessert.
 
Cost is $125 per person, which includes the food, service and sales tax.
 
For more information about the dinner or to make reservations, call 763-5252.
 
The news release describes Crawford’s culinary niche as “refined, modern regional American cooking.” Through his partnership, Nash Square Hospitality, he plans to open Standard Foods, his own restaurant and neighborhood grocery with adjacent urban garden in downtown Raleigh, along with a flagship restaurant, Nash Tavern, the release stated. The grocery will feature Crawford’s prepared foods.
 
Standard Foods is slated to open in the fall; Nash Tavern will open in 2015, the release stated.

Manna is at 123 Princess Street in downtown Wilmington.

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