ORLEANS, MA (March 12, 2026)—The Lower Cape Outreach Council (LCOC) today announced famed Cape Cod Chef, Michael Ceraldi, as the featured challenge chef of LCOC’s Third Annual Chef’s Challenge, Thursday, April 30. The event takes place in Ocean Edge Resort’s Bay Pine Pavilion in Brewster beginning at 5 p.m.

Event proceeds benefit the stocking of LCOC’s nine emergency food pantries on the Lower and Outer Cape where one in three residents are now food insecure.

The Third Annual Chefs’ Challenge features tastings by Chef Ceraldi made from ingredients sourced from an LCOC food pantry, along with passed hors d’oeuvres, food stations, raw bar, signature cocktail, and silent and live auctions. Music and a Fund-a-Need will top the night off.

Limited event tickets remain at $150 per guest and can be purchased at chefs2026.givesmart.com

For more information or to charge tickets by phone, call 774-722-0209 or email donations@lcoutreach.org. Community members unable to attend can still participate by making a gift to LCOC at lcoutreach.org or by mail to LCOC, PO Box 665, Orleans, MA 02653

The Third Annual LCOC Chef’s Challenge is sponsored by Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club Cape Dreams Building & Design, Kerry Insurance, The Knack, and Cape Cod’s 102.3 and 106.5—The Greatest Hits on Earth.

 More About Chef Ceraldi

With over 30 years of industry experience, Michael Ceraldi has worked in some of the best kitchens in the country and in Italy, including New York’s Felidia and Del Posto, and Metamorfosi in Rome. His inventive culinary skills are informed by his training as a visual artist: Michael’s eye for textural detail extends to the clay plates, bowls, and vases he crafts himself, used at table every evening. Chef Michael has made several appearances on The Food Network, and was a featured presenter, along with Ruth Reichl, Bill Sertl, John “Doc” Willoughby, and others, in Beyond the Plate: A Symposium of Food, Writing, and Community at the Castle Hill Center for the Arts in Truro, MA, where he also teaches cooking classes.

Chef Ceraldi, and wife, Jesse Ceraldi, moved back to Provincetown where they started as a pop-up this past year after spending 11 years in Wellfleet. Named a 2017 Best of Boston restaurant, dinner at CERALDI is an experience that is rooted in time and place, presenting a daily changing menu that, course-by-course, highlights seasonal offerings exclusively from our micro region of Cape Cod. Described by Boston magazine as “a fleeting delicacy to be remembered and cherished,” CERALDI presents elevated, sensorial dishes that tell the stories of a coastal ecosystem and the people who grow and supply our food. The Ceraldis reside in Brewster, MA.

 More About LCOC

From its humble roots of organizing assistance out of the homes of volunteer founders, the Lower Cape Outreach Council is an essential part of the community, providing comprehensive assistance to more than 5,000 Lower and Outer Cape residents in need of immediate support while encouraging long-term sufficiency. Incorporated in 1984, LCOC has a holistic approach to client care and works to ensure participating individuals have all their basic needs met. The nonprofit operates nine emergency food pantries—one in each town on the Lower Cape, including two in Orleans, and a financial assistance program, Katy’s Korner, a free clothing and home goods center, as well as other seasonal programs. All programs are free and available to any resident of the Lower and Outer Cape who identifies a need. For more information, visit lcoutreach.org.