Bits and pieces

Blake Hartwick is now executive chef at Blackthorne Restaurant, where his entree list ranges from chicken pot pie (done with Poultry Junction organic chicken and hen of the woods mushrooms) to cider-braised pork cheeks and five-spice pork belly with skillet corn pudding to osso buco with smoked chevre pierogies. 11318 North Community House Road; 704-817-5554.

The "No Kid Hungry" campaign continues at Harper's and other restaurants through Jan. 31 or so: American Express will donate $1 to the campaign, through national organization Share Our Strength, every time diners use their American Express cards at an "eligible dining establishment." (The donation is capped at $1 million, so it could conceivably end before Jan. 31.) Register your card here.

Get "endless fondue" at the Melting Pot at Midtown or Lake Norman Dec. 9-11 and support the Levine Children's Hospital's "Give Here for Kids Here." The dinner is four courses for $39.95, or three courses for kids 12 and younger for $19.95. Three dollars from each dinner will go to the initiative (no other discounts apply), and note: It's the entree fondue and the chocolate dessert fondue that are "endless," not the cheese. Midtown: 901 S. Kings Drive, 704-334-4400; Lake Norman: 16625 Statesville Road, 704-987-2251.