Get ready to kiss a few cooks. The Magic City Art Connection presents the 11th Annual Corks and Chefs event this Saturday and Sunday at Linn Park, located at 710 20th St. North. The event is part of the annual juried art festival featuring hundreds of works of art in a variety of mediums. From 1-5 p.m., guests can taste food from the 17 Birmingham-area restaurants and caterers listed below, as well as wine, beer and other beverages provided by local and national vendors. Tickets are $25 in advance; $30 at the door. Learn more by calling 595-6306 or visit www.magiccityart.com, where you’ll find information about each chef, including some of their exclusive culinary secrets.

Saturday Chef Lineup

HOT AND HOT FISH CLUB
Chris Hastings will prepare Hot and Hot shrimp and grits with country ham, tomatoes, fresh thyme and ver jus.

JOHN’S CITY DINER
Shannon Gober presents South Pacific chicken salad with peanut ginger vinaigrette.

NABEEL’S CAFE & MARKET
Alan Nelson features Greek chicken skewers with Greek baked village potatoes.

ROCK HOUSE RESTAURANT
Owner and chef Paul Casey serves marinated basil shrimp with pine nuts and herbs, Asiago and Parmesan cheese on a bed of wild herb rice with feta cheese & dun-dried tomatoes.

TABLE
Owner Brian Lewis and Chef Michael Brandon prepare braised beef short ribs, roasted garlic horseradish Yukons and Cabernet jus.

THE J. CLYDE
Owner Jerry Hartley serves up local hickory roasted pork tenderloin on soft rolls with cilantro mango salsa.

THE VERANDA
Executive Chef Thomas Robey of Commander’s Palace fame prepares smoked Muscovy duck and braised greens gumbo.

V.RICHARDS
Chef Rickey Little III features his Mediterranean seafood salad.

Sunday Chef Lineup

BELLINI
Chefs Benard Tamburello and Doug Hovanec will prepare wild mushroom risotto.

CATERING BY LA’NETTA
Chef Joannetta Jarman & Chef Levi present Moroccan lamb and steamed veggies with couscous.

CHEF CLAYTON’S FOOD SYSTEMS, INC.
Chef Clayton Sherrod plates bacon wrapped stuffed chicken breast with wilted spinach.

CONTINENTAL BAKERY & CHEZ LULU
Carol Griffin features baked French breakfast doughnuts and almond bread pudding.

FRANKLIN’S HOMEWOOD GOURMET
Chef Franklin Biggs serves tortilla Espanola accompanied by romaine salad with roasted red peppers, tapenade, croutons and Asiago cheese.

ICON RESTAURANT & BAR
Chef Ben Leingang will prepare shellfish ceviche.

OCEAN and 26
Chef George Reis will serve Ocean-Dungeness crab salad and Mussels Diable.

SOL Y LUNA/CANTINA
Chef Guillermo Castro presents pork carnitas tamal with roasted tomatilla salsa.

STANDARD BISTRO
Chef Alan Martin will prepare slow roasted pork with aioli and spicy slaw.

We’re taking Ginny Phillips off the masthead. Now that she’s a published author, it only seems appropriate that any future bylines in this paper match what it says on the cover of her debut novel: Gin Phillips. The excerpt of The Well & the Mine that ran as this week’s cover story ought to be enough to convince you to get your very own copy (and if it’s not, perhaps the cornbread at John’s City Diner will be – the book release party will be held there on March 13).
Far stranger than fiction is the atmosphere surrounding Magic City government. A porn star and the Pope? It sounds like the start of a bad joke. And then there’s JeffCo’s money woes – possibly the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history looming on the horizon. Good thing Mayor Larry Langford hired a guy who helped create that catastrophe as the city finance director.

“You can travel across the entire land, ain’t no place like Birmingham…”
O! For a restart of the city! For a reboot of the republic! If only a good meal – barbecue say, or lobster tails and champagne — could make this all go away.