The annual Pungo Strawberry Festival is just a week away.
Held over Memorial Day weekend, May 26 and 27, this is the 29th year for the fruit fete, which includes two days of arts and crafts, live entertainment, agricultural exhibits and lots of ways to enjoy strawberries.

The upcoming Sensible Seafood Fest at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center will focus on seasonality and sustainability. The event, to be held from 6 until 9 p.m. May 24, celebrates foods prepared with regionally-sourced, sustainable ingredients from around two dozen of the museum's Sensible Seafood partner restaurants.

On April 20, more than $300,000 in scholarships were given out during the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) awards breakfast at the Westin Virginia Beach Town Center.
The awards were presented by the program's Hampton Roads director, Tammy Jaxtheimer, and organization founder and chairman, Richard Grausman.

VIRGINIA BEACH 
Several Beach Eats readers have inquired about The Street Cook, a popular Mediterranean restaurant in Lynnhaven. According to owner Barbara Szewczyk-Sykes, the eatery closed at the end of March.

SHE-CRAB SOUP - a rich, thick, creamy bisque filled with crabmeat and topped with a piquant shot of sherry - is a hallmark culinary item of the region. For the fourth year, the dish will be celebrated with scores of restaurants vying for bragging rights of having the best offering in town.

TERRAPIN Restaurant celebrated its sixth anniversary with new décor.
The eatery, owned by Executive Chef Rodney Einhorn, has done away with light green walls and accents in favor of midnight blue, giving the space a refined look and feel.
New leather seats and an extended banquette along the mirrored back wall were added as well.

THE 14TH annual Empty Bowls dinner takes place Friday night at Virginia Wesleyan College.
The event, presented by the Ceramic Designers Association (CDA) in partnership with the college, allows folks to select a handcrafted bowl to be filled at dinner with freshly prepared soups, accompanied by bread and desserts.
The bowls, crafted by local clay artists, can be taken home by diners.

THERE WAS nothing cookie-cutter about the winning dishes at this year's Samoa Soiree, held Feb. 17 at the Westin Virginia Beach Town Center.
A fundraiser for the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast, the evening featured area top chefs competing against each other for a best use of the venerable Girl Scout cookie in savory and sweet dishes.

THE SURF-CENTRIC Java Surf Beach Cafe is riding another wave by offering adult beveragesto augment a full slate of coffee drinks.
Alongside caffe breve are beer and Bloody Marys; mimosas and macchiatos. Red and white wine round out the libation list. The imbibes come after approval of an Alcoholic Beverage Control license in January.

In the last Beach Eats column, we reported about changes at The Lucky Star restaurant in The Westin Town Center Virginia Beach.
Some new information: The Lucky Star is being converted into meeting and banquet space, and will not reopen; however, the hotel bar area, just outside the dining room space, will be renovated and retooled, opening in March as Westin Restaurant and Bar.