Food-o-File

Welcome to the nearly 1,000 members of the International Association of Culinary Professionals who are in Austin this week for their annual conference. Austinites David Bull, executive chef of Congress, Second Bar + Kitchen, and Bar Congress, and Rene Ortiz, executive chef of La Condesa, have been tapped as chefs-in-residence for the conference, while chefs Tyson Cole of Uchi, Kelly Casey of Hudson's on the Bend, David Garrido of Garrido's, Hoover Alexander of Hoover's Cooking, Larry McGuire and Lou Lambert of Lamberts, and Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due will be cooking at some of the conference events that are open to the public, and a number of local chefs, food artisans, food writers, and bloggers will participate in other aspects of the conference spotlighting the diverse flavors of Austin.

Kudos to chef/nutritherapist/author Alain Braux, whose 2010 book Living Gluten and Dairy-Free With Gourmet French Food was a recent winner at the Paris Book Festival. Braux will soon raise money to complete and promote a new book project at www.alainbraux.com.

Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts student Susan Tran is the winner of the fourth annual Pastry Competition sponsored by the Wine & Food Foundation of Texas. Tran won a $5,000 scholarship, and runners-up Lauren Ortiz and Andrea Morgan each received $1,000 scholarships. Congratulations to them all.

Now, a lightning round of local news:

• After a 20-year run in two different locations, partners Stewart Scruggs and Mark Paul closed Zoot (11715 Bee Caves Rd.) this past weekend to allow time for the renovations necessary to turn the Southwest Austin space into the BC Tavern, set to open in late June.

• Olivia chef/owner James Holmes will open Lucy's Fried Chick­en later this year in the South Austin space recently vacated by Nueva Onda (2218 College Ave.).

• Imperia (310 Colorado) has launched a new reverse happy hour: Customers can enjoy happy hour prices from 9pm until closing nightly, as well as all day Sundays and Thursdays.

• The Great Hills location of Manuel's (10201 Jollyville) has added jazz music to the menu on the second Thursday night of every month from 6:30 to 10pm.

• The Austin-based, quick-casual maki sushi bar chain How Do You Roll? has opened a fourth outlet at the Triangle (4700 N. Lamar). It also has one eatery in San Antonio and plans to open others in San Marcos, Houston, and College Station by the end of the year.

• La Condesa owner Jesse Herman and Executive Chef Rene Ortiz will open a second location in the Napa Valley community of St. Helena, Calif., later this summer.

• Eugene Hanus, 58, died May 21. He and his former wife, Nan, were part of a group of families who relocated to Austin in the early Eighties from Stephen Gaskin's famous Farm commune in Summertown, Tenn. One of the group's local enterprises was production of various tofu items that eventually became part of Reed Murray's White Mountain Foods. Eugene is survived by Nan; daughter Violet Han­us of Hawaii; son Joe Hanus, executive chef of Woodland; Joe's wife, Jessie; and their son, Elijah. Our sincere condolences to them all.