26th Annual Rare & Fine Wine Auction

Mark your calendars! The 26th Annual Rare & Fine Wine Auction is set for Saturday, April 16 at The Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. Auction festivities will begin at 6 pm with a Champage reception and silent auction debut. At 6:45pm guests will be treated to an array of fine wines as well as a heavy buffett of hors d'oeuvres by Executive Chef Elmar Prambs. At 7:30pm the loud, fast-paced and always competitive auction of more than 100 rare and collectable wine lots will begin.  We hope that you can join us for an evening of spectacular wine and fun-filled memories.

Sipping and Savoring All Around Town

Only a few days left to Sip & Savor Austin  a city-wide food and drink celebration with one goal
benefitting The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas. So far between the staff and interns we've visited NoRTH, urban an american grill, Jo's Downtown, El Arbol, Judge's at Mansion Hill, Sagra and Whole Foods! But there are so many other fantastic restaurants offering deals that we're sure to stay busy the next few days.
To see all special, menus and events - visit http://www.sipandsavoraustin.com/. Let us know where you'll be Sipping and Savoring and hopefully we can meet up!

The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas is thrilled to be selected as the 2011 beneficiary of Sip & Savor Austin - a city-wide food and drink celebration with one goal – to get the most “people in the door” of participating restaurants and bars, surpassing any food and drink event in the city.

Sip & Savor Austin is a 2-week event from January 16-30, 2011 featuring a variety of venues including Max's Wine Dive (Foundation Community Partner!), Whole Foods Market, Urban at The Westin, The Carillon, Paggi House, La Sombra, III Forks and many, many more!

To see all special, menus and events - visit http://www.sipandsavoraustin.com/. Let us know where you'll be Sipping and Savoring - we'd love to join you!

Texas Culinary Students - We Challenge You!

We are now accepting applications for the 11th Annual Stephan Pyles Culinary Scholarship Cook-Off which will take place on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3 at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Austin.

THE CHALLENGE:

Open to all currently enrolled culinary students throughout Texas, the scholarship challenges students to create a unique three-course meal utilizing a predetermined ‘basket of food’ containing many Texas food products. The competition consists of two phases:

• Phase One is the application phase, whereby menus and application packets are submitted. Entries are then blindly evaluated by an expert panel of The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas judges. Ten participants are blindly selected and sent to Chef Pyles for final evaluation.  Chef Pyles then blindly selects the final three contestants.
• Phase Two consists of the actual cook-off event whereby three finalists will be competing for two days by cooking and serving their menus to a panel of culinary experts (through a blind tasting). 

THE REWARD:

In addition to capturing the glory of being the 2011 Stephan Pyles Scholarship winner, the grand prize is a $15,000.00 scholarship made payable to the winner’s school. The winner also have the opportunity to travel with Chef Pyles to a celebrity chef fundraising event in Los Angeles and the opportunity to present a course at the Stephan Pyles Annual Celebrity Chef Dinner & Live Wine Auction in November in Dallas.

The two remaining finalists will each receive $1,000.00 scholarships made payable to their respective schools.

Download an application here. The deadline to submit your application is 5pm on Friday, February 11, 2011.

About the Scholarship:

Named for Texas culinary legend Chef Stephan Pyles, known as one of the founding fathers of Southwestern cuisine, the Stephan Pyles Culinary Scholarship is a tribute to his remarkable contribution to the culinary arts in Texas. This scholarship is one of the many ways in which The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas fulfills its mission of providing education and research in the culinary and viticulture arts.

This scholarship challenge fosters the drive, passion and imagination in student chefs, thus furthering Texas’ great culinary legacy. It is challenging, demanding and requires skill, imagination and drive. The competition is rotated between culinary schools throughout the state and is judged by a number of Texas chefs and culinary experts each year, including Chef Pyles.

GOOD LUCK!

2011 = Even More Wine & Food Fun

Happy New Year wine and food enthusiasts! Hopefully you enjoyed some tasty bubbly on New Years Eve and are ready to tackle 2011 with gusto like us here at The Foundation.

We've got a busy start to the year with an Argentinean dinner pairing at La Sombra (February 2), Zinfandel Grand Tasting (March 6), Annual Stephan Pyles Scholarship Cook-Off (April 2-3) and the always fabulous Rare & Fine Wine Auction (April 16). Plus, we're working on some new, exciting events that celebrate and highlight what we love...wine and food! Stay tuned...