FOOD & DRINK

HOMEGROWN CHEF The Greatest New York Chefs Dinner at the James Beard House features chef Bertrand Chemel from Café Boulud. Dishes include fonduta ravioli with endive, winter black truffle, and Valle d’Aosta fontina, and butter-poached lobster with local leeks, sepia, saffron rouille, and a bouillabaisse emulsion. Tonight, 7 p.m., James Beard Foundation House, 167 W. 12th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 212-627-2308, $155 general, $125 members.

HEALTH

FOR A GOOD CAUSE In anticipation of baseball’s opening week, the New York Mets and Brooklyn College host a blood drive: Every donor receives a pair of tickets to Mets games on April 14 or 15 against the Washington Nationals. The drive is co-sponsored by the Brooklyn/Staten Island Blood Services, a division of the New York Blood Center. Today through Wednesday, noon–5:30 p.m., Brooklyn College campus, 2900 Bedford Ave. at Campus Road, Brooklyn, 718-951-5000, free.

TALKS

BIG FACES The Arts Initiative of the St. George’s Society presents “The Legacy of Al Hirschfeld,” a discussion devoted the theatrical caricaturist. His widow, Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, and a member of the Society, Jim Dale, participate in the conversation. Mr. Dale founded the Arts Initiative as a way to bring theater enthusiasts and professionals from Britain together in New York. Tonight, 6 p.m., National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, East 20th Street between Irving Place and Park Avenue South, 212-682-6110, $20.

SUN STARS The Living Room for Artists/Summer Play Festival presents the SPF Salon Series, which is designed to provide a forum for examining ideas and concerns of relevance to the theater today. Tonight’s discussion features a theater critic for The New York Sun, Eric Grode; a former Sun theater critic and a current writer for New York magazine, Jeremy McCarter, and a writer for the Village Voice, Alexis Soloski. Two critics from Time Out New York magazine, David Cote and Adam Feldman, are moderators of the event. Tonight, 7:30 p.m., Theatre Row, Studio Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St., between Ninth and Tenth avenues, 212-279-4040, free.

STREOTYPE THIS The panel discussion “Typecasting: On the Arts and Sciences of Human Inequality” focuses on the pervasiveness of eugenics, the popularization of stereotypes and the traces of prejudice in the scientific enterprise. Participants include a professor of American history at the State University of New York — Old Westbury, Elizabeth Ewen, and a professor of film and media studies at Hunter College, Stuart Ewen. Tomorrow, 6:30 p.m., the Cooper Union, Wollman Auditorium, 51 Astor Place, between Third and Fourth avenues, 212-353-4195, free.

COMPUTER SCREENS “Digital Diving: A Cut and Paste Update” is a discussion about digital culture and its impact on the visual arts as well as information technologies. Panelists focus on how new technologies are used in information gathering and virtual communities. Participants include a writer and curator, Lauren Cornell; digital artist Joseph Nechvatal, and the chair of the MFA Computer Art Department at the School of Visual Arts, Bruce Wands. The talk is moderated by an artist and the chair of the BFA Fine Arts Department at SVA, Suzanne Anker. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., SVA, 209 E. 23 St. at Third Avenue, 212-592-2010, free.

To submit an event for consideration for the Calendar, please wire the particulars to calendar@nysun.com, placing the date of the event in the subject line.