The Palisades Restaurant. Roanoke Times file photo.

For the third year, the Celebrity Chef Tour will be stopping at The Palisades Restaurant in Giles County for two nights of extraordinary five-course meals with wine pairings. This will be the tour’s only stop in Virginia. The event happens on Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31 and begins at 6 p.m. on both nights.

The tour is just what it sounds like: A traveling troupe of talented chefs who stop in various cities around the country to offer their food and personalities for folks who might not otherwise get a chance to experience them. Not every stop includes the same chefs; they take turns appearing in different places. The event benefits the James Beard Foundation.

In 2010, The Palisades hosted former White House chef Walter Scheib, who returned again in 2011. This year, the lineup will feature some chefs from the Bravo television show, Top Chef, as well as a local guy, Aaron Deal, who will be cooking at The River and Rail, a restaurant scheduled to open in Crystal Spring in Roanoke this spring.

This year’s full lineup:

Barton Seaver was named Esquire magazine’s “Chef of the Year” in 2009 and, in 2008, was named a ”Seafood Champion” by the Seafood Choices Alliance and a “Rising Culinary Star of the Year” by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. Seaver is also the author of a book, “For Cod and Country.”

Jennifer Carroll was a finalist on the sixth season of Top Chef. She’s currently chef of the award-winning 10 Arts Bistro & Lounge in Philadelphia. She used to be the sous chef at Le Bernardin in New York.

Also from Top Chef’s sixth season, Mike Isabella has opened his first restaurant, Graffiato, in Washington, D.C. and competed against Chef Richard Blais in the final episode of Top Chef All Stars.

Pastry Chef Dana Herbert is from Top Chef Desserts and TLC’s “Cake Boss: The Next Great Baker.”

Aaron Deal was recently named one of the “12 to watch in 2012″ by Restaurant-Hospitality magazine.

Muldoon. Roanoke Times file photo.

Tickets to the Celebrity Chef Tour at The Palisades sell like hotcakes, so if you are interested you should snatch them up right away. Tickets are a little pricey at $140 per person, but that includes all food, drinks, gratuity and taxes.  Tickets must be purchased in advance by calling (540) 626-2828.  Tickets are not refundable but are transferable.

Congratulations and a big thanks to The Palisades Restaurant owner Shaena Muldoon for bringing such an amazing event to our little corner of the world. For more information about the tour, click here.