A northeaster is blowing into Bistro Le Cep Friday, Aug. 14. The French restaurant is hosting a "New England Lobster-Clambake" from 5 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

The four-course menu includes clam chowder served with cornbread, green salad, boiled lobster, cherrystone clams and shrimp along with corn on the cob, boiled potatoes and grilled sausage, and, for dessert, apple pie ala mode. The meal is $39.95 plus tax and gratuity.
Meryl Streep as Julia Child in Julie Julia
Seating is limited for the event, so the folks at Bistro Le Cep are advising that reservations be made early. You've been warned.

• Mockingbird Bistro's chef/owner John Sheely offers a new tasting menu each month. In conjunction with the opening of the film Julie & Julia Aug. 7, this month tasting menu is a tribute to Julia Child, the towering anti-diva who demystified French cuisine and techniques for generations of home cooks.

  The three-course meal starts with vichyssoise and concludes with a custard apple tart. The entree is a choice of roasted chicken with scalloped potatoes or roasted leg of lamb with mushroom-stuff tomatoes. The evenings-only meal is $69 ($89 with wine pairings) plus tax and gratuity.

• Got a hunter or an avid angler in your life? Here's an unusual event - and for a very good cause. Aug. 22 is Clean Out Your Freezer Day, which benefits Houston organizations that feed the hungry. The organizers are looking for donations of venison, hog, dove, quail, pheasant, ducks, geese, fish and other exotic proteins.

  Drop off is 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at all area Gander Mountain stores and at Pete’s Fine Meats, 1509 Richmond Ave. Game should be processed, frozen and wrapped.

  In past years, organizers have collected more than six tons of donated meat. This year's recipient organizations include Open Door Mission, Houston Victory Ministries and Youth-Reach Houston.

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