by Michelle Boudin

Some of Charlotte’s top chefs are joining some of Bravo’s Top Chefs to raise money for a cause that means a lot to one of them.

Chef Brittany Cochran from Stagioni got to know Cookies For Kids’ Cancer while working in New York City. When she moved back to Charlotte, she decided to continue working with the nonprofit, which raises money to fund pediatric cancer research.

This year, after competing on the most recent season of Top Chef, she invited a few friends from the show and a few others from around town to participate in this year’s Cookies, Cocktails & Canapés. There, the chefs will come together to cook up savory bites, handcrafted cocktails and mocktails, desserts, and of course, hundreds of cookies.

“It’s something that I deeply care about,” Cochran says. “I’ve been a part of the organization for quite a long time. I’m really proud to be a part of it.”

She learned about Cookies For Kids’ Cancer after spotting a photo of a young boy hanging in the kitchen at Forge in Tribeca, where she worked.

“The founder of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer and her family were regulars at Forge,” Cochran says, “and then one day I heard the whole story of why they started Cookies For Kids’ Cancer and it’s just a beautiful story, beautiful family — just big, big hearts, and obviously I have a love for this industry, so when I moved to Charlotte I wanted to get involved in the local chapter. They went through something that you don’t wish upon any family. To lose Liam at a very young age, and all he wanted to do was be a chef. So we are honoring that. And I, maybe relate to that in a way because I was maybe nine, ten years old when I knew I wanted to be a chef.”

Cochran has been helping with the event ever since. This year, she knew her castmates would say yes to joining Cochran and her fellow Charlotte chefs in the fundraiser.

“We’re all so different in our cuisines,” Cochran says. “But we all have the same standard. We all have the same respect for each other, and we just want to see each other succeed in so many different ways and just support each other, and I think that’s really awesome.”

Amy Christenbury is the founder of the Charlotte Cookies for Kids’ chapter, originally Chefs for Kids’ Cancer — The Carolinas, founded in 2015, and believes this year’s event is going to be record setting for fundraising because there are so many top talents cooking. This year’s event will be Tuesday, October 6 at The Casey by Beau Monde on North Tryon. Tickets are $250/person.

“We’re incredibly proud to bring together some of the Top Chefs from Season 23 with Charlotte’s own award-winning culinary talent,” she says. “Our local chefs are every bit as important to this event and this mission, and we’re deeply grateful to all of them for sharing their time and talents to help fund childhood cancer research for children everywhere. It’s truly amazing to think they will all be in the same room.”

Christenbury says the list of chefs participating reads like a who’s who of Charlotte’s culinary scene, and she says that’s thanks to Cochran.

“It’s kind of surreal because you’re in this room with this amazing talent that you kind of forget their talent because at the end of the day, they’re doing it to help childhood cancer research,” Christenbury says. “The talent is astronomical. Everybody is like, wow, you have this person, this person, this person. It’s amazing.”

“It’s an incredible lineup,” Cochran agrees. The participating Top Chef contestants include Season 23 champion Rhoda Magbitang, along with fellow contestants Sieger Bayer, Oscar Diaz, Nana Wilmot, Duyen Ha, Sherry Cardoso, Jonathan Dearden.

It’s going to be a really sick lineup of Top Chefs and then obviously our locals.”

Area chefs participating include Bruce Moffett, Moffett Restaurant Group, Joe Kindred, Kindred Hospitality Group; Chris Coleman, Built On Hospitality; Lewis Donald, Sweet Lew’s Barbecue; Robin Anthony, Prime Fish; Greg Collier, Fine & Fettle; Callan Buckles, Rada; and Andres Kaifer, Customshop. In all, 34 chefs will take part in the event. “It’s really exciting to see what we’re going to be bringing this year,” Cochran says.

Christenbury started the Charlotte chapter of the nonprofit after losing her nine-year old son Grier to the disease. “Even after your child dies, you still parent,” she says. “That started this whole process of learning the childhood cancer diagnosis world and jumping into a world that I guess I knew existed, but I certainly didn’t want to live in. That’s why I do it. Some people start foundations. I didn’t think that was necessary. We have this great foundation where the transparency is incredible and we’ve raised so much money.”

Since its founding, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has granted more than $25 million, funding 155 research grants at leading institutions across the country and helping make more than 60 treatments available for children battling cancer.

“It’s a great organization and great event with all of these chefs coming together for the community — especially here in Charlotte, because in Charlotte, we’re not butting heads,” Cochran says. “We’re not. I’m better than you. They’re like, ‘Hey, chef, do you have an extra bag of mussels?’ ‘Yes, chef, I got you.’ We help each other out. And for us all to come together for such a beautiful cause is just awesome. And in the past six years, we have reached our goals every single year and this year we’re shooting for half a million dollars.

“I think we’re going to get it.”

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