Participating in the Citywide 86'd competition has become quite the staff team-building exercise in some of Austin's most high-profile kitchens. Now another group of four finalists is set to compete for some serious prizes in the finals.

Cooks from some of Austin's top restaurants showed up at the Central Market Cooking School early last Saturday morning to compete for a spot in the finals of this Food Network-style cooking competition.

This month's round of the Citywide 86'd competition between cooks at some of Austin's top restaurants takes place Friday morning at the Central Market Cooking School as an event affiliated with this weekend's Austin Food & Wine Festival.

The second round of this year's Citywide 86'd competition took place at the Escoffier Academy of Culinary Arts on Sat., March 1. Before an audience of friends and co-workers, contestants from four local restaurant kitchens started the day with 25 minutes to prepare appetizers to present to the judges.

The Austin Food & Wine Alliance partnered up with the Tipsy Texan and together they did an incredible job of turning the Official Drink of Austin Contest into a super cool craft cocktail competition well worth the price of admission. This party has finally found its groove.

The Keeper Collection LLC announced today that Nathan Prater was the winner of the annual Somms Under Fire Wine & Food Pairing Competition held Sunday, Jan. 26 at the UT/AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center.

From the time Food Editor Virginia B. Wood first announced Mick Vann’s inaugural Austin Chronicle Invitational BBQ Beef Rib Smackdown, I think we all pretty much understood that the competition itself was not really going to be the point.

Matt Timms will be back in Austin this weekend, when the third leg of his Holiday Cookie Takedown tour stops in at the Shangri-La. Whip up your best batch of cookies and be there for the fun.

The big P. Terry's Cookie Challenge we told you about last week has been re-scheduled, so fans of Austin's fastest-growing hometown burger chain will still have the opportunity to choose which oatmeal cookie will be the sweet treat on the menu.