The Nantucket Wine Festival is May 13 through 17, and they'll be celebrating world-renowned wines paired with noteworthy cuisines against a backdrop of historic locations, like the host White Elephant Hotel.

Festival highlights include a luncheon symposium featuring an hour-long tasting and discussion followed by a luncheon paired with wines, an appearance by San Francisco Chronicle Winemaker of the Year Ehren Jordan, and the Nantucket Historical Association Dinner featuring Jorge Ordonez of Fine Estates from Spain, as well as Daniel Bruce of Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel.

There will also be a celebrity chef and winemaker auction dinner, a grand tasting, wine and food seminars and winery lunches and dinners. (nantucketwine festival.comand 508.228.1128)

The Local Scene

Fresh Catch, a Notester favorite, is stepping up locally and gets congrats from The Notester. The Union Street restaurant in Attleboro had a fund-raiser for Wamsutta Middle School Monday and is having one for the Tri-Boro Titans lacrosse team this coming Monday. Each time they donate 20 percent of their sales to the cause. (508.226.1587) Oh, and you can have dinner for two plus any house wine or domestic beer for 30 bucks Sunday through Thursday, 4 to 6, at the Fresh Catches in Attleboro, Mansfield and North Easton.

And speaking of fund-raisers, on Thursday, April 9, the Baskin-Robbins at Patriots Place will host an ice cream social and give 31 percent of the proceeds to the Igo school in Foxboro. (508.543.9031)

They have three-course dinners for 20 bucks at Stoneforge Foxboro on Route 1 every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Look for the pub quiz every Wednesday and the steamer special is 16 bucks Mondays at The Chieftain on Route 1 in Plainville.

Doug Smith, owner of Pizzeria Grande in Downtown Walpole, has bought at auction Tom's Tavern on Shears Street in Wrentham and says he plans to continue it as a restaurant and bar.

North to Boston

Westport Rivers Winery on Hixbridge Road in Westport hosts a Founders' Day Wine Dinner Saturday, May 2, at 5:30. You'll get a tour of the vineyard and have a four-course wine dinner at Long Acre House. It's 75 bucks. Also, the Taste of Westport, a wine and food festival on the winery's lawn, is Saturday, June 20, from 1 to 4. It's 45 bucks. (westportrivers.com and 508.636.3423.x2)

The Metropolitan Club in Boston is offering Passover meals to eat in or take out. At lunch, for 15 bucks, look for matzo meal popovers stuffed with chicken salad, and meringue and berry napoleon. The dinner menu is 38 bucks. These specials are available Wednesday through Tuesday, April 14. (617.731.0600)

At KO Prime in Boston they have an all-you-can-eat prime rib buffet on Retro Mondays & Tuesdays, for 25 bucks. (617.772.0202)

Just in time for Opening Day, they have a new Red Sox bar menu at Bonfire at the Park Plaza. Look for Francona's Franks, the Lansdowne Street in a Bun (ground pork, onions, peppers, spicy mustard), the Pedroia-Sized Buffalo Chicken Bites with pickled celery and gorgonzola or the Guinness Big Frapi. They're all between 5 and 7 bucks. (617.262.3473) Tomorrow Down:2:Earth, a local organization committed to providing Bostonians with a forum for issues surrounding sustainability, will host its Local Eats Preview Party 5 to 9. Environmentally-minded guests can peruse exhibits provided by many of Boston's sustainable chefs, restaurants, food producers and wineries, and sample goodies, too. It's at the Hynes Convention Center and costs 20 bucks, with a portion of the proceeds going to the New England Aquarium Sustainable Seafood Program and The Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets.

In Little Rhody

Mediterraneo on Atwells Avenue in Providence has lunch and dinner specials. Your can get a three-course lunch for 16 bucks and a three course dinner for 30 bucks. Both are prix-fixe. (401.331.7760)

They now have family-style dining on Thursday at Napa Valley Grille at Providence Place in Providence. It's offered 4 to closing. Adults are 20 bucks, kids 7. (napavalleygrille.com and 401.270.6272)

"Dining Out with Bruce Newbury" has returned to 920 WHJJ-AM TalkRadio Providence. He's on noon to 2 Saturdays. (866.920.9455)

The Cabernet Franc is ready for the tasting at Greenvale Vineyard in Middletown. It's 83 percent cabernet franc and 17 percent merlot, and goes for 26 bucks a bottle.

Mark Gasbarro hosts the annual Wine Tasting for the American Cancer Society set for Monday, May 11, at 6:30 at the Westin in Providence. Tickets are 75 bucks and available until May 4 at Gasbarro's Wines on Atwells Avenue oin Federal Hill, at the American Cancer Society on Jefferson Boulevard in Warwick, at Dugan Jewelers on Main Street in East Greenwich and at 401.421.4170)

Looking for some baked Easter goodies? Try the La Fiesta di Pasqua at the Holy Ghost Church hall on Hartford Avenue in Providence. It's 1 to 5:30 Saturday and 9 to 1 Sunday.

Going West

Ocean Blue Catering at Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration is hosting monthly Plenty of Fish in the Sea Social Nights April 16, May 21 and June 25, 7 to 11. They include gourmet hors d'oeuvres, tableside wine samplings, a cash bar and dancing, all for 25 bucks. And you have to be 21. They're also having a Wines from Portugal four-course wine dinner and cordial tasting tomorrow at 6:30. It's 80 bucks. (860.572.5955.x336)

Changing Tables

Chris Jones is the new executive sous chef at The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar in Newport. Previously he was banquet chef at Castle Hill Inn & Resort, a sister property also in Newport.

The Pinelli-Marra Restaurant Group has named Jeff Sesar as executive chef at its Twist on Angell Bistro and Pub, 500 Angell St., Providence. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute, Sesar comes to Twist on Angell from The Spanish Kitchen in West Hollywood, Calif., where he was also executive chef. Sesar is planning a new menu to be introduced this spring.

Awards Corner

The Crittenton Women's Union, a non-profit that helps low-income women attain economic independence, is honoring chef/restaurateur Barbara Lynch at an Amelia Earhart Award luncheon May13 at the Sheraton Boston. It's noon to 1:30 and costs 125 bucks. (liveworkthrive.org and (617.259.2921)

Bon appetit. And if you go, let The Notester know.

HAVE A NOTE? E-mail it to notester@thesunchronicle.com or notester@silvercitybulletin.com. Or drop it in snail mail addressed to Restaurant Notes, The Sun Chronicle, Box 600, Attleboro, MA 02703.

Bon appetit. And if you go, let The Notester know.

HAVE A NOTE? E-mail it to notester@thesunchronicle.com or notester@silvercitybulletin.com. Or drop it in snail mail addressed to Restaurant Notes, The Sun Chronicle, Box 600, Attleboro, MA 02703.