Meet Chef, Cookbook Author and TV Host Lidia Bastianich at Williams-Sonoma on Thursday, 3.11 [Updated with New Time]

Update: (Thursday, 3.11, 10:15 a.m.) My Post-Dispatch counterpart, Joe Bonwich, was kind enough to pass along word that today's signing at Williams-Sonoma will now run from 4-5:30 p.m.

Update: (Thursday, 3.11, 11:45 a.m.) Also, she will be at the Des Peres Schnucks (12332 Manchester Road) from 2-3:30 p.m.

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Lidia Bastianich, the chef, cookbook author and TV host, will sign copies of her new book, Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes, at the Plaza Frontenac location of Williams-Sonoma beginning at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 11.

Bastianich is perhaps best known to the country at large through Lidia's Italy and other PBS cooking shows, but she has been a chef and restaurateur since the 1970s. Felidia, her flagship restaurant, opened in Manhattan in the early 1980s, and since then she has expanded her business to include Esca and Del Posto -- collaborations with Mario Batali and her son, the noted wine expert Joseph Bastianich -- as well as restaurants in Kansas City and Pittsburgh.

(Fun fact: Bastianich was actually born in Croatia. She lived briefly in Trieste, Italy, as a child, before immigrating to the United States.)

An important note: Bastianich will sign only those copies of her book purchased at Williams-Sonoma. Call 314-567-9211 for more information.