Spend a Weekend with Celebrity Cookbook Authors in Beautiful Spring Lake

By Pat Tanner

Actually, you can choose to spend the weekend or just make it a day trip when the Historic Inns of Spring Lake host their third annual Authors & Inns tour on Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17. On Sunday, each of 11 inns and bed & breakfasts in this pretty Jersey shore community will throw open their doors and play host to one chef, restaurateur, or culinary TV personality.

Among the celebrity authors are Suvir Saran of New York’s Devi Restaurant; Barbara Kafka, recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s lifetime achievement award; Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito of BakedNYC and whose cookbook was recently featured in O Magazine; and Jeff Nathan of the PBS series Jeff Nathan’s Family Suppers.

New Jersey will be represented by Patricia Mack, whom many remember fondly as food editor of The Record (she will share secrets from her 1999 book Tomatoes), and by Barbara Seelig Brown, the author of Stress Free Cooking and host of a cable TV show of the same name.

From 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, ticket holders can take a self-guided tour of the 11 inns and visit with the celebrities, who will sign copies of their books. The $15 ticket price includes a keepsake tote bag and tour map.

For those who wish to make a weekend of it, guests staying at any of the inns over Friday and Saturday nights will receive complimentary Sunday tour tickets - and admission to a private event on Saturday. For that, only guests of the inns are invited to spend an hour with each of five authors while they present a recipe from their book. Participating authors are Suvir Saran, Patricia Mack, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, Belina Hulin (Pizza for a Party), and Hope Fox (Impress for Less).

For a complete list of authors, schedule of events, and participating inns visit HistoricInnsofSpringLake.com