Dames lunch | Arts & Entertainment

The Dames Déjeuner Lobster Luncheon, Sunday, May 31 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Nantucket Hotel, is more than just a champagne-soaked afternoon of lobster and luxury.

It is, at its core, a celebration of women: women chefs, women winemakers, women educators and women leaders whose work continues to shape the food and wine industry – and Nantucket itself.

Last year, Bean spoke to The Inquirer and Mirror about wanting to revive the event. Now, it returns as one of the festival’s most layered and meaningful gatherings, drawing together acclaimed female chefs and wine professionals alongside island institutions like the Maria Mitchell Association for a conversation about mentorship, leadership and the evolving role of women in hospitality.

The luncheon, presented by Veuve Clicquot, takes inspiration from both Madame Clicquot – the pioneering French businesswoman who transformed the champagne house after her husband’s death – and Maria Mitchell, Nantucket’s famed astronomer and one of the first prominent female scientists in America.

Like Mitchell, many of the women participating in the luncheon are continuing to carve out space in industries long dominated by men.

Moderated by wine writer and educator Wanda Mann, the event will pair a lobster luncheon with Veuve Clicquot champagnes and a panel discussion featuring chef Flavia Amad di Leo from Osadía de Crear Restaurant in Argentina, Maria Mitchell Association executive director Joanna Roche and chef Patricia Estorino of Gustazo Cuban Kitchen in Cambridge.

For Mann, who has spent decades building a career in wine media, the luncheon represents something larger than a single event.

“To me, the Dames Déjeuner is really putting a spotlight on what we all live every day,” she said. “We’re here together, we rise together, we open doors for each other.”

Mann, who jokingly describes herself as a “wine evangelist,” began writing about wine nearly 20 years ago, back when blogging about wine was still relatively niche.

A native New Yorker raised on what she calls a “foie gras and grits childhood,” she grew up with a love of food thanks to her chef father, but said her deeper interest in wine came later while working as an event planner organizing tastings.

“It was my first time sitting down with winemakers,” she said. “That lit the spark.”

Today, Mann serves as East Coast editor of SOMM Journal and travels the country leading wine seminars and tastings, though she said one of her biggest goals remains making wine feel less intimidating.

“We’ve been drinking wine for 8,000 years,” she said. “We know how to eat and drink. We need to eliminate this fear factor and elitism.”

But Mann also acknowledged the realities still facing women in the industry.

“Ideally, we would live in a world where you wouldn’t have to say, ‘She’s a woman winemaker’,” she said. “But the reality is, it is an industry that has been dominated by men in so many areas.”

That is part of why events like the Dames Déjeuner lunch matter, she said, not simply as celebrations, but as visible reminders that women are integral to every level of hospitality and wine culture.

Chef Susan Regis, who will be cooking a course for the event, knows firsthand how transformative female mentorship can be.

Long before she became a James Beard Award winner and one of Boston’s most respected chefs, Regis described herself as a “postgraduate ski bum” who accidentally stumbled into restaurant work after taking a kitchen job at Seasons, the now-legendary Boston restaurant credited with helping redefine New England cuisine in the 1980s.

At Seasons, she found herself surrounded by culinary heavyweights like Lydia Shire, Jasper White and Jody Adams.

“It was kind of this magical time to be there,” Regis said. “We would stay up until four in the morning arguing about peppercorns.”

Regis spent nearly two decades working alongside Shire, whom she credits as both mentor and collaborator. Unlike the stereotypical screaming, male-dominated kitchens often associated with restaurant culture, Regis said many of the kitchens she worked in were deeply collaborative environments led by women.

“I worked with Lydia for 19 years,” she said. “It was always collaborative. It was always judicious but kind and gentle.”

That spirit of collaboration is something Regis still sees among women in the industry today.

“The women have always been incredibly generous and collaborative and helpful,” she said. “That has kind of helped bring women into a position of equality.”

For Amad, executive chef of the Michelin-recognized restaurant Osadía de Crear in Mendoza, Argentina, the luncheon also feels deeply personal.

Amad, who works under celebrated Argentine winemaker Susana Balbo, said she has experienced gender discrimination firsthand throughout her culinary career.

“I’ve been treated differently because I’m a woman,” she said. “I’ve been paid differently. I’ve been told I’m not capable.”

Now, she is working to change that culture for the next generation through her female empowerment initiative “Al Mando,” which highlights women across gastronomy and hospitality in Argentina.

“There’s been a lot done already, and I’m thankful for the chefs who came before me,” she said. “But there’s still a lot of work to do.”

Amad’s cooking reflects both her Argentine roots and her broader culinary training, blending local Mendoza ingredients with techniques she learned while studying and working in the United States. At the festival, she plans to showcase ingredients like trout roe and corn as a way of introducing guests to the flavors and landscapes of her home.

“What matters most is learning from others,” she said.

That same spirit of exchange and community is what excites Nantucket pastry chef Cassie Malgieri about participating in the luncheon.

Malgieri, who leads pastry at PPX Events, moved into baking after initially studying journalism in college. Since graduating from pastry school, most of her culinary career has unfolded on Nantucket.

“Kitchens can be harsh,” she said. “So females being in positions of power and leadership in the kitchen is really awesome because they weren’t scared away, they didn’t back down.”

Roche, meanwhile, sees the event as an extension of Nantucket’s long history of female leadership.

During the whaling era, while men were at sea for years at a time, Nantucket women often ran households, businesses and financial affairs independently. Roche notes the island was one of the first places in the country where women could hold power of attorney for their husbands.

“Nantucket nurtured Maria Mitchell,” she said. “She became America’s first female astronomer, but before that, she was a woman whose father recognized her incredible abilities and encouraged her.”

That legacy, Roche said, still matters today.

“If we don’t continue to champion women’s leadership, we are failing,” she said.

At a festival known for lavish pours and celebrity appearances, the Dames Déjeuner Lobster Luncheon offers something more lasting: a reminder that behind many of the food and wine world’s most important innovations are women who pushed forward anyway – often together.