enlarge Photos by Finn MacDonald/Courtesy of Arts in the Inns

A highlight of last year’s Arts in the Inns festival was a feast on the Kennebunkport waterfront at the Breakwater Inn.

Some secret ingredient.

You may have heard that there's going to be a celebrity chef gala at this year's Arts in the Inns festival in Kennebunkport on June 6.

This new event pits a Maine homeboy with a chef "from away" in an Iron Chef-style competition where they are given a secret ingredient they have to use to whip up something marvelous.

Well, actually, the chefs have already been told what their secret ingredient is going to be.

It gets worse: The secret ingredient is lobster.

Please, no angry phone calls or e-mails from folks in the lobster industry. I love a good lobster as much as the next gal, but isn't it a little, um, obvious?

Call me crazy, but I was hoping for a true Iron Chef moment. You know, like the time the TV chefs were told they had to whip up a multi-course meal with milk as the featured ingredient. Now there's a challenge.

"It's a culinary challenge, but we're giving them time to think about it because they don't have great resources on the site," said Rob Blood, spokesman for the festival, which runs June 3-7. "They're going to be cooking on two Wolf grills and using the test kitchen, so they need to do a little prep work before that, before they can turn out something that's going to be worth $185."

Yes, tickets are $185. For that kind of money, you could buy 37 chix and single-handedly put the lobster industry back in the black.

Enough with the snark. Some of the money goes to charity, after all.

Steve Corry, for his part, is looking forward to the challenge, as he will be the one representin' Maine. Corry is chef and co-owner of Five Fifty Five in Portland (well known for his truffled lobster mac and cheese), and was one of Food and Wine's choices for Best New Chef in 2007.

"It's a little nerve-wracking in that it's a contest that's being held in Maine, with Maine lobster, so I feel there's a little bit of pressure there just to kind of defend the home turf," Corry said. "But I think it's all in good fun. It's a charity event. If it were to win the rights for a TV show or $100,000 for a new restaurant or something, I'd be a lot more nervous."

Corry, who said he can't reveal what he's going to do with his lobster, is going up against Mark Miletello, executive chef of the Regent Bal Harbour in Florida.

Miletello is a Food and Wine best chef as well as a James Beard award winner for Best Chef: Southeast.

"I don't know him personally, but I know his reputation," Corry said. "He's quite a well-accomplished chef. He's earned all kinds of accolades down in Florida. I'm excited to meet him, actually."

Guests will be able to interact with the two chefs and ask them questions as they are preparing their food.

The Chef's Gala will be held 6:30 to 11 p.m. in the main tent at the Breakwater Inn, and will be followed by live music and dancing.

If you're looking for something a little more low-key and family-oriented, try the Lobster Rolls and Blueberry Pie event, which will be held 5:30 to 8 p.m. June 6 at the Seaside Inn and Cottages. Guests at this $65 dinner will be able to chow down on lobster rolls, chowder and blueberry crumble as they chat with Chef Rebecca Charles of New York's Pearl Oyster Bar. Dress is casual.

"We have doubled the number of tickets that are available to that event," Blood said. "It was so popular (last year), people were getting upset that they couldn't go."

As they do every year, participating chefs will be preparing signature dinners based on the work of artists they've been paired with for the festival. These dinners are mostly in the $100 range, are limited to 12 to 16 people, and are served in private homes.

But what if you'd like to try a little of everything? For $50 you can go to the Grand Tasting and Showing, a new event where guests can sample the chefs' food while they watch them prepare it, and talk with 21 artists...