Sagaponack - This week 250 pounds of potatoes were picked up at Foster Farm in Sagaponack and drove them across Long Island to the southern tip of Manhattan. These spuds - Norwis potatoes, to be exact, a flavorful, round white variety favored for chipmaking and frying - will star as the main ingredients in the potato pancakes served at the third annual Latke Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Monday.

Part of this fall's harvest, the potatoes were hand-graded by farmer and Edible-contributor Marilee Foster, and packed into the colorful bags with the Tiger Spuds logo and "Grown on Long Island" stamp. A couple hours after leaving the farm, they sat on the Spring Street loading dock of Great Performances, where they were received by Kevin Harney, who coordinates the dizzying delivery and logistics schedule for this New York caterer. Along with garlic and onions (from S&SO Produce Farms in Goshen, NY, via the Union Square Greenmarket), chicken eggs (from Tello Green Farms in Red Hook, NY) and all-purpose flour from Cayuga Pure Organics (in Ithaca, NY, via the Union Square Greenmarket), the potatoes will be divvied up and delivered to the participating chefs as well as the homecook entrant to use in this scrumptious competition where attendees (and a panel of food VIP judges) will taste through two floors of potato pancakes on their way to crowning a champion.

On the drive in, the car had a bit of that sweet, wet smell of Bridgehampton loam that yields such good tubers. And with our seasonal eating sensibility re-invigorated, we looked forward to eating potatoes at the event next week, as well as in the coming weeks and months. Like onions and cabbage, potatoes are one of those things that our region's farmers still offer up even in the dead of winter.


Participating chefs include:

 • Ron Ben-Israel, Ron Ben-Israel Cakes
 • Noah Bernamoff, Mile End
 • Saul Bolton, The Vanderbilt
 • Beth Brown, Mae Mae Cafe
 • Thad Davis, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola
 • Robb Garceau, Great Performances
 • Jack Kiggins, The Plaza
 • Julian Medina, Toloache
 • Alex Raij and Eder Montero, El Quinto Pino, Txikito, and La Vara (soon to open in Brooklyn)
 • Adam Ross, Gold Coast Delicatessen
 • Victoria Saladana, El Café at El Museo del Barrio
 • Mark Spangenthal, Kutsher's
 • Michael Sullivan, Veselka Bowery
 • Tim Sullivan, BAMcafe
 • Bill Telepan, Telepan
 • Jason Weiner, Almond restaurants

And to help us determine the Festival's latke-making favorites, we've recruited some heavy hitting judges, including:

 • Michael Arad, architect and Designer of the National 9/11 Memorial
 • Melissa Clark, author and New York Times contributor
 • Mitchell Davis, Vice President of the James Beard Foundation
 • Cathy Erway, author, "The Art of Eating In"
 • Karen Hopkins, President of BAM
 • Nazli Parvizi, Mayorial Commissioner of the Community Affairs Unit of NYC
 • Mimi Sheraton, former New York Times restaurant critic
 • Rachel Wharton, Edible Brooklyn