Click to embiggen and see the Nicky's Week specials at RA Sushi.

If you don't quite know how to pair wines with Indian food, let Narin's Bombay Brasserie be your guide at its upcoming Summer Wine Dinner on June 7.

Chef Gary Grewal will be serving an array of Indian dishes, all matched with international wines from Republic National sommelier Brett Walters. The five-course menu includes pan-fried grouper with mango beurre blanc, lamb patties with passion chutney and stuffed squid with fresh tomato salad. Call 713-622-2005 for reservations.

Starting next week, RA Sushi will be celebrating its eighth annual Nicky's Week, in which 100 percent of the proceeds from a portion of its menu will go to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Help kick cancer's ass while you nosh on dishes such as garlic-citrus yellowtail tapas and pork gyoza, and cocktails like the strawberry saketini. Beer, wine and other nonalcoholic drinks are also available on the Nicky's Week menu, which runs from May 27 through June 2.

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Photo by Steven David, Courtesy Food and Vine Time Productions

You'll see lots of smiling faces at the upcoming Woodlands Wine & Food Week.

Food and wine lovers, rejoice. Just a few short days away is a big-time celebration of gourmet cuisine and marvelous vino. The annual Woodlands festival, put on by the event-planning extraordinaires at Food and Vine Time Productions, and now in its eighth year, is slated to draw more than 10,000 attendees with its events for both novice and hardcore food and wine aficionados.

Now, Inner-Loopers, it may be a little daunting to even think about making the trek to the Land of the Woods, but be assured -- this festival, which has garnered plenty of national praise, is worth your time and gas mileage. Plus the week's festivities include an event at Minute Maid Park.

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Photos by Ruthie Johnson Miller

Guests at the last OIMBY dinner even had T-shirts made for the event.

Outstanding in the Field dinners -- meals which feature a tour of a local farm and food prepared by a master chef on the farm itself -- are famously fabulous, but also notoriously expensive. And two years ago, a few Houston food lovers decided to do something about it: start their own.

Outstanding in My Backyard was born from the idea that you can have all of the benefits of an Outstanding in the Field dinner -- local products prepared by talented cooks in a bucolic setting -- without shelling out hundreds of dollars.

Soon, OIMBY had attracted a guest list of 100 people for its first dinner, which saw dishes prepared by Houston chefs such as Jonathan Jones, Justin Basye, Michael O'Connor, Hugo Ortega and the now Austin-based Plinio Sandalio.

The meal was only $40, with most of the food donated by places like Utility Research Garden and Revival Market -- meaning that most of the ticket price went to charity.

Now, after a two-year hiatus, the backyard feast is being revived by one of Houston's local food pioneers: Monica Pope of t'afia.

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The barely three-month-old Underbelly is coming out of the gate strong, and is now ready to host its first beer dinner.

Chef Chris Shepherd is joining forces with Austin-based brewery Jester King to create a five-course menu of what Shepherd calls his "traditional Houston-inspired food." Beer pairings from Hay Merchant's Kevin Floyd will feature "interesting and rare offerings from Jester King including barrel-aged farmhouse releases and collaborations with other breweries." The dinner will take place on Thursday, June 7, at 6:30 p.m, with 36 seats available at $85 per person. Call 713-528-9800 for reservations.

If you've been enjoying Erin Hicks Miller's Houston Classic series of books (which include Houston Classic Desserts and Houston Classic Mexican Recipes), go tell the author herself when she'll be signing copies of Houston Classic Seafood this Saturday, May 19, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Westpark Kroger (5150 Buffalo Speedway).

This coming Wednesday, the City Hall Farmers Market will be hosting a celebration of Houston's arts scene from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at City Hall (901 Bagby). In addition to the regular rotation of 30 food vendors and farmers, the market will also feature the following arts groups throughout the afternoon:

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Bread, cheese, bloc de foie gras, pate de campagne and more from the buffet table. Yes, that was all for me.

You really have to appreciate it when someone throws a party and goes all out, no expense spared. That's what Central Market did for its Passport France kickoff event this past Thursday evening, which was held in a white tented affair that had the high society feel of the Kentucky Derby.

Indeed, I wouldn't have been surprised to see women in summer dresses with large brimmed hats, because the summer party had a distinctly haute feel to it that belied the $35 cost of attendance. The tented Provençal-themed dinner party came complete with a petanque court, live acoustic French music, beautiful chandeliers, long tables covered in bright blue and yellow linens along with an army of white-clad servers that offered free-flowing choices of Chateau Paradis Rosé, 2011 Chateau L'Ermitage white, and 2010 Domaine Carobelle Gigondas red. And, of course, six courses of delicious, chef-prepared French food as well as a goodie bag to take home.

The evening started out with a buffet table of artisanal bread, cheese, fruit, pate, and French kisses of Armagnac prunes with duck foie gras as guests mingled with one another before choosing a place to sit.

The Consulate General of France, Frédéric Bontems, kicked things off with short speech thanking Central Market for its contribution to the French community and culture of Houston before the evening's headliner took the stage. Then began the live cooking demonstration by guest chef Patrice Olivon, an Iron Chef winner, former chef to the French Embassy and host of the PBS series Dinner is Served.

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Cook your Cajun ass off at Under the Volcano.

Remember the days when The Burger Guys had first opened and Jake Mazzu was doing these amazing brunches with his crew, like Brandon Fisch and Steve Marques? Well, these days you can find Marques turning out killer food at The Tasting Room Uptown, but Mazzu and Fisch are doing the brunch thing once again.

The return of The Burger Guys Brunch will take place on Sunday, May 27, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. (or until the food runs out, which will likely be much earlier). RSVPing is strongly recommended; call 281-497-4897 to save your spot. No word on what they'll be serving yet, but the Facebook page says to expect "brunch with several small bites and fun dishes to choose from, all executed in an open kitchen by The Burger Guys chefs."

That same day, Under the Volcano will be hosting its annual Memorial Weekend Cajun Food Cook-Off from 4 to 9 p.m. (so technically, you can totally make both events). The event is still in need of cooks, however.

Says the Volcano: "We are changing things up a bit this year and opening the competition to all Cajun food and not just gumbo. So if you make a mean jambalaya, étouffée, gumbo or even corn maque choux, we'd like you to help us raise funds." The event benefits Wellsprings, Inc. a home for abused women and their children run by the Dominican Sisters. Sign up in person at the bar.

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Photos by Mai Pham

Learn how to make French macarons at the Central Market Cooking School during their Passport France celebration.

One of my favorite things to do when I visit a foreign country is to roam the grocery store aisles for specialty condiments and canned goods that I can't find in the U.S. When I came back from Argentina, I brought home pre-made packets of chimichurri herbs, paprika and canned hearts of palm. When I came back from Spain, I brought Spanish mayonesa (mayonnaise), aioli and sauce to make patatas bravas (spicy potatoes). And when I came back from France, I brought French truffle oil, French chocolate, hand-made macarons, butter cookies and more.

I mention these three countries because they have each been featured during Central Market's annual two-week "Passport" food and culture celebration. Two years ago, items like Argentinian salt and alfajores (cookies filled with dulce de leche) were available during Passport Argentina. Last year, celebrity chefs from Spain were flown in to preside over classes in the Central Market cooking school for Passport Spain.

This year, Francophiles and French food lovers can rejoice because from now through May 22, Central Market will be hosting Passport France.

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Photos by Groovehouse

The judges' table was laden with terrific tacos. See our slideshow for more photos from the day.

This past Saturday, East End residents celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a block party on Harrisburg -- steps away from where the new East End light rail line will soon be operating.

The street festival, sponsored by the Greater East End District, featured performers such as Los Pistoleros de Tejas and Ballet Folklorico. But it also featured some of the town's best tacos and one of the most official taco-judging panels I've ever been a part of: State Representative Carol Alvarado, City Councilman Ed Gonzalez and Metro CEO George Greanias.

If you didn't go, that means you don't know that the Firehouse Taco truck won the taco competition with its flour tortilla-wrapped carnitas tacos -- beating out several other longtime taco trucks as well as other newcomer Ladybird in the process.

Here are five other things you missed at the East End Street Festival:

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Photo by iwona_kellie

Say "Na zdrowie!" this weekend.

Fed up with Cinco de Mayo? Just want to do something different from the rest of the crowd this weekend?

Then head out to the 6th annual Polish Festival this weekend. The two-day festival will take place at Our Lady of Czestochowa Church (1731 Blalock Drive) from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. tomorrow and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. In addition to plenty of Polish food like pierogie, golabki, bigos and kielbasa, there will also be ice-cold Tyskie in the beer garden. Parking is free and admission is only $3.

Tomorrow is also the last day to celebrate La Fisheria's weeklong Avocado Festival, for which chef Aquiles Chavez has incorporated the fruit into dishes like an avocado gazpacho with bell peppers and shrimp.

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Patrise Shuttleworth

Dr. Madaiah Revana

Sunday night, 20 miles south of Houston, two culinary heavy hitters knocked it out of the park at the Revana Wine Dinner at Killen's Steakhouse. Chef Ronnie Killen and Chef Randy Rucker began preparing weeks in advance, tasting wines and developing recipes to pair perfectly with Revana wines.

It was a six-course culinary adventure as never seen in Pearland, Texas. If Pearlanders showed up expecting only steak and potatoes, they were in for quite a tasty shock. As a newcomer to Pearland, I was proud of my neighbors for stepping out of their comfort zone and indulging in unforgettable culinary masterpieces.

The wines were provided by Revana Family Vineyard. Founded by Dr. Madaiah Revana, a cardiologist and internal medicine physician in Houston, the vineyard is a culmination of his dream to grow and craft wines of exceptional quality. Dr. Revana explains, "I grew up on a farm in India and never touched alcohol until my early twenties. But I have come to believe that moderate wine consumption, in the proper setting, can be a healthful and medically defensible daily pleasure. Louis Pasteur, the eminent scientist, said that wine is the most hygienic of drinks. My own habit is to drink wine daily, with dinner, and almost always in the company of family or friends. From my perspective as a cardiologist, wine is one of nature's most welcome and wholesome of gifts when enjoyed in moderation at the table."

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