STEW LEONARD’S INVITES CUSTOMERS TO LIDIA’S FAMILY TABLE FOOD AND WINE TASTING BENEFITING THE DANBURY VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION

Featuring a Book Signing with Celebrity Chef Lidia Bastianich, Award-Winning Italian Wines and Recipes from Lidia’s Family Table Cookbook

DANBURY, CONN., September 15, 2006 – Award-winning restaurateur, cookbook author and star of her own Public Television cooking show, Lidia Bastianich is the celebrated guest at Stew Leonard’s upcoming food and wine tasting, featuring highly-rated Italian wines and recipes from Lidia’s newest cookbook, Lidia’s Family Table, which will be available for purchase at the event for signing. The event takes place at Stew Leonard’s Danbury store’s upstairs conference room on Wednesday, October 25 from 6:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M. Stew Leonard’s is donating the food and wine, so all proceeds from ticket sales can go to the Danbury Visiting Nurse Association.

Tickets for the event are $75.00 payable to the Danbury Visiting Nurse Association and available at either:

• Stew Leonard’s Danbury Wine Shop at 2 Nabby Road; 203.797.0049
• Danbury Visiting Nurse Association at 4 Liberty Street; 203.792.4120 Tickets will not be available for purchase at the door.

Award-Winning Wines from Italy’s Best Wine Regions
Attendees will have the opportunity to taste 40 wines from the great wine-producing regions in Italy: Piedmont, Tuscany, Umbria, Veneto and Abruzzo. Highlights include sampling new vintages from renowned winemakers Antinori, Ruffino and Banfi, and sipping award-winning wines such as Antinori Tignanello, Antinori Solaia and Sette Ponti Oreno.

The tasting also features wines from Lidia’s son, Joe Bastianich, who owns vineyards in the Friuli region of Italy. His signature wine, Bastianich Vespa Bianco, won the coveted Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri (three-glass) award, the highest honor a wine can receive from this Italian wine magazine.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare!
Lidia’s signature sign-off translates to, “everybody to the table to eat.” The menu for the event ensures that no guest will leave hungry. There will be antipasto, a shrimp bar and an Italian cheese table; passed hors d’oeuvres and a pasta station featuring recipes from Lidia’s Family Table cookbook, including Shrimp and Scallops Gratinate (Gamberi e Capesante Gratinate, p. 18), Sweet Onion Gratinate, p. 29 and a Mushroom Gratinate, p.32; Salsa Arrabbiata with angel hair, p. 128 and penne with Lidia’s Flavors of Italy marinara, sold at Stew Leonard’s food stores. A coffee and dessert table with traditional Italian desserts will complete the evening.

About Lidia Bastianich
Lidia Bastianich is widely regarded as the "First Lady of Italian cuisine and restaurants in the United States." She was named "Outstanding Chef" in 2002 and "Best Chef in New York" in 1999 by the James Beard Foundation. She is the owner of the New York City restaurant Felidia, which recently received three stars by restaurant critic Frank Bruni of the New York Times. Her other restaurants include Becco in New York City’s theater district and Lidia’s Italy in Pittsburgh and Kansas City.

At the event, Lidia will be signing copies of Lidia’s Family Table (Knopf, 2004, $35.00/hardcover), which is available for purchase at the event for a special price of $25.00. This is the fourth and newest cookbook in Lidia’s collection and focuses on the recipes she herself cooks for her family. The cookbook is the companion to her new Public Television series of the same name, which began airing in April 2005. Proceeds from cookbook sales at the event will benefit the Danbury Visiting Nurse Association. For more information on Lidia, visit www.lidiasitaly.com.

About the Danbury Visiting Nurse Association
The Danbury Visiting Nurse Association is a non-profit community home health agency serving the greater Danbury area and surrounding towns since 1911. The agency provides skilled nursing care; home health aides; medical social work; speech, occupational and physical therapy; maternal child/health care; specialty clinicians in respiratory therapy, cardiac care, wound care, diabetes care, pain management, and home infusion therapy. The Danbury VNA is the area leader in community health services, providing educational seminars on health topics, blood pressure screenings, flu clinics, and health services to the uninsured and underinsured through the Wellness on Wheels Van.

About Stew Leonard’s
Stew Leonard’s, a family-owned and operated fresh food store founded in 1969, has three stores in Norwalk and Danbury, Conn. and Yonkers, N.Y., with a fourth store planned to open in early 2007 in Newington, Connecticut. The company was named among FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” for the past five consecutive years. For more information, visit Stew Leonard’s website at www.stewleonards.com.

Stew Leonard’s Wines in Danbury, Connecticut has a great selection of wines from every day values to hard to find wines. They hold several charitable and educational wine tasting events throughout the year. Sign up for future events by filling out a wine e-line form located at the wine shop entrance.

**Each wine store is independently owned and operated and is not part of a cooperative buying group, or affiliated with the Stew Leonard’s food stores.