Food-o-File

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Culinary Scholarship Competition

With a $15,000 scholarship on the line, what sort of menu would you design and prepare in order to convince a panel of judges you are the aspiring chef who deserves the money? That was the task facing the finalists in the fifth annual Stephan Pyles Culinary Scholarship Cook-Off held the first weekend in March at the Texas Culinary Academy. Finalists Dana Achten and Jonathan Korzekwa of Austin and Jodie Liwanag of Houston were given a basket of all-Texas ingredients and instructed to create, prepare, and present a three-course meal for consideration by a panel of judges that included Pat Sharpe of Texas Monthly, chef Stewart Scruggs of Zoot and Wink, and chef Bruce Auden of Biga on the Banks in San Antonio. The prestigious Pyles scholarship was awarded to Liwanag, a culinary student at the Art Institute of Houston. In addition to her winnings, she will have the opportunity to cook with chef Pyles at celebrity fundraisers during the year. Her winning recipes are available at www.winefoodfoundation.org.

The Pyles Scholarship is just one of many grants, fellowships, and scholarships funded by the Wine & Food Foundation of Texas, a public charity that is dedicated to the recognition and development of creativity, professionalism, and scientific research in the culinary and viticultural arts. Their works are funded in part by the proceeds of the annual Rare and Fine Wine Auction held during the Saveur Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, April 7-10 this year. The auction will be held at 6:30pm, Saturday evening, April 9, at the Four Seasons Hotel. The event will feature appetizers prepared by noted Mexican-food expert Diana Kennedy followed by dinner prepared by chef Elmar Prambs. For more information about the foundation, to view a list of the unique auction items, or to make reservations for the auction, call Rebecca Robinson at 327-7555 or go online to www.winefoodfoundation.org.

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Event Menu: March 31-April 7

• Here's a challenge for book-loving foodies! The Kilgarlin Center and the School of Information at UT are hosting the third annual Edible Book Festival, where anyone may enter "any book structure made from absolutely anything edible." Prizes will be provided by such sponsors as 12th Street Books, BookPeople, Half Price Books, Waterloo Records, Wheatsville, Little City, and more. For creative inspiration or more information, visit www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ebf. The competition is held at the UT Collection Deposit Library; 2-4pm, Friday, April 1.

• The downtown Farmers' Market relocates to Second and Lavaca (Block 21) for this one weekend only to make way for the Austin Fine Arts Festival, which takes over Republic Square. The market returns to its regular home next week; 9am-1pm, Saturday, April 2.

• Santa Rita Cantina (1206 W. 38th, 419-7482) continues their Tequila Tuesdays (first Tuesday of every month) with a tasting of Corazon brand tequilas, both the Blanco and Agave Reposado varieties. Ten dollars gets you tequila samples and a selection of appetizers. Seating is limited; 5-7pm, Tuesday, April 5.

• The Saveur Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival celebrates a 20-year milestone this year with a bigger, more diverse fest. The most noticeable change is the replacement of the Sunday Fair with a two-day tent extravaganza on the shores of Town Lake. The Village at the Shores will offer cooking demonstrations by the visiting celebrity chefs, food and wine samples from guest restaurants, vendors, wineries, authentic chuck wagon cooking demonstrations in the Circle of the Wagons, and boat rides featuring tapas and sangria (Saturday) or sushi and sake (Sunday). The Village concept makes a wide range of festival events available to the general public and offers the best bang for your buck during the entire weekend: $45 for a one-day pass, $55 for a two-day pass. For more details or to purchase tickets, call 542-WINE or go to www.texaswineandfood.org; noon-6pm, Saturday and Sunday, April 9-10.