“Top Chef Texas” finalist Lindsay Autry is coming to Cary to cook a special dinner Sept. 7.

Autry will cook with her former co-worker, Steven Devereaux Greene, the executive chef at An New World Cuisine in Cary.

Autry and Greene worked together in Charleston, S.C., and Greenville, S.C. Autry most recently worked as an executive chef at one of James Beard-award-winning chef Michelle Bernstein’s restaurants in Florida. Autry, a Fayetteville native, was a contestant on “ Top Chef Texas.”

The five-course meal with wine pairings will cost $125 per person, not including tax or gratuity. The menu includes:

• Amberjack crudo with celery salad, toasted soy, radish and ceviche vinaigrette.

• Butternut squash soup with lamb dumpling, pomegranate puree and curried crème fraiche.

• Grilled octopus with crispy bread, caper leaf remoulade and charred chickpeas.

• Berkshire pork loin and belly with Okinawan yam, romesco sauce and cassia caramel.

• And for dessert, heirloom apple tart with wild huckleberry jam, sesame-walnuts and maple ice cream.

Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. Reservations are required. Call 919-677-9229.

Southern Foodways Alliance fundraiser

Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen of Poole’s Diner is hosting two fundraisers for the Southern Foodways Alliance featuring pitmaster Pat Martin of Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint in Nolensville, Tenn.

On July 29, Christensen will host a five-course meal with wine pairings featuring Martin’s food: his notorious Redneck Taco, deviled eggs, candied and smoked pork belly, frog legs, pickles and coconut cake. The dinner starts at 7 p.m. and costs $150 per person.

On July 30, Christensen is hosting a potluck for folks in the food industry at her home. Tickets cost $35.

For more information about the events and to reserve a ticket, go to www.stirthepotluck.com.

The Southern Foodways Alliance is a nonprofit based at the University of Mississippi that documents, celebrates and studies Southern food traditions.