It’s not every day you’re invited to dine at Ellis Island — the Great Hall where immigrants once waited for their papers to be processed is these days used mainly for swank galas. But next Thursday, the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy will celebrate the publication of former Times writer Molly O’Neill’s One Big Table: A Portrait of American Cooking with a feast that’ll give you the chance to try ten of the cookbook’s 600 dishes (the recipes were contributed by everyday Americans, many of them recent immigrants, during O’Neill’s several years of traveling across the country). The $130 ticket gets you a copy of the 880-page book; a seat for a panel discussion with O’Neill, Calvin Trillin, Aarti Sequeira of Food Network, and a couple of others; plus transportation from Battery Park to the island at 6 p.m. and a return trip at 9 p.m.; call 212-668-2321 for more information.
