Italian restaurants join forces to help earthquake victims

Want to help out post-earthquake rebuilding efforts central Italy region of Abruzzo? Go out to eat.

About 50 Seattle and Portland Italian restaurants — including Seattle's Barolo Ristorante, Via Tribunali, Tavolata and Salumi Artisan Cured Meats — will donate a portion of their sales from meals served Wednesday to the effort to rebuild a sports and recreation facility in Paganica, the epicenter of one of Italy's deadliest earthquakes.

Called "Big Night for Abruzzo," the fundraiser will help victims from the 6.3 magnitude earthquake in April, which killed nearly 300 people and left 40,000 homeless in the mountainous region of central Italy.

For a complete list of restaurants participating, check www.bignightforabruzzo.com (and for more info, e-mail Michael Yuasa of Caffé Vita at yuasa@caffevita.com).

Nationally acclaimed chef Holly Smith of Café Juanita and Armandino Batali of Salumi, among others, will also host a fundraising dinner and concert in early August at Seattle nightclub The Crocodile. Date and other details on that event will be announced soon.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com