More than 30 of the Valley’s top chefs will showcase their considerable skills Saturday at the fourth annual Phoenix Cooks! at the Arizona Biltmore resort and Spa.

The five-hour culinary event, spread across three ballrooms, will feature food and wine tastings, chef showdowns, cooking classes and a marketplace.

General admission tickets, $80 in advance and $95 at the door, include all food and wine tastings, as well as access to the marketplace, where visitors can check out gourmet kitchens and purchase cooking tools.

“Iron Chef”-style competitions on stage will pit chefs (Todd Berry of the Westin Kierland Resort pictured above at last year’s event) against one another with baskets of mystery ingredients, kicking off with a 10:30 a.m. battle between Lee Hillson (T. Cook’s at the Royal Palms) and Donald Lemperle (Asia de Cuba).

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Fresh From the Farm, the eight-month-old restaurant at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek, is planning to open a wine and beer bar in August. The restaurant (pictured at right) had gone on summer hiatus for two weeks, but is back open for breakfast and lunch Wednesdays through Sundays and dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. Info: (480) 987-8398 or schnepffarms.com.

• Picazzo’s Gourmet Pizza & Salads has added a full bar and lounge, additional seating and a bigger patio to its Tempe location on the northeast corner of Kyrene and Warner roads. It’s celebrating with daily specials, such as half-price appetizers and bottles of wine, through Saturday. The deals are available after 4 p.m. and only at the Tempe location. Info: (480) 831-5823 or www.picazzos.com.

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Since his second-place finish on Bravo’s reality television show “Top Chef” last month, Richard Blais has been a busy man. He’s welcomed his first child, daughter Riley Maddox, and opened a new restaurant, Home, in his home city of Atlanta. He’s also consulting on a new gourmet burger restaurant called Flip that will open in September.

The fauxhawk-sporting 36-year-old is working on deals for a book and a TV show that would feature his creative cooking style, a cross between a mad chemist and MacGuyver — think liquid nitrogen and smoke guns — that’s been labeled “molecular gastronomy.”

Blais also is working on product innovation with companies ranging from Garrett popcorn to Red Stripe beer. And this Saturday, he will participate in “Top Chef: The Tour” (read a preview) when it comes to the Valley for three interactive shows.

I caught up with Blais by telephone as he was on his way to his Atlanta restaurant.

Your culinary career seems to be blowing up right now. What did you really want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a professional athlete, in particular a baseball player. No one ever told me until I was a senior in high school that I really didn’t run that fast and that I was a little shorter than most athletes. But I definitely wanted to be an athlete, and that kinda carried over into my cooking career. I really enjoy the camaraderie of working as a team in the kitchen.

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After a couple months of delays, KiZake Sushi & Martinis finally has opened in downtown Chandler. Chef Hiro Taniguchi’s cozy eatery, decorated in blue and white, features a natural wood sushi bar with 11 seats, a half-dozen four-person tables and a booth.

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T. Cook’s is offering a summer cooking series called “Dishing with the Chefs and Three Divas.” Valley media personalties will work with executive chef Lee Hillson and pasty chef Perry Jermonti to demonstrate recipes, which will be eaten that evening.

Channel 3’s Olivia Fierro will prepare a Mexican dinner Friday; Channel 12’s Tram Mai will do Vietnamese on July 18; and Channel 15’s Kaley O’Kelley will do American Indian on Aug. 15.

Cost is $100 for cooking demonstration, reception and seated dinner. Reservations are required.

T. Cook’s is located at the Royal Palms Resort and Spa, 5200 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix. Info: (602) 840-3610 or royalpalmsresortandspa.com.

I don’t often write about restaurants in Phoenix, but I’ll make an exception for a James Beard Award-winning chef. Christopher Gross opens his new place, Christopher’s Restaurant, today at Biltmore Fashion Park.

Located between Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue, the 120-seat restaurant features Gross’ French-influenced American cuisine. Sommelier Paola Embry oversees the in-house lounge, Crush, which offers an after-hours menu until 2 a.m.

Christopher’s Restaurant is located on the center’s lower level; the chef’s Christopher’s Fermier Brasserie closed earlier this month on the upper level.

Christopher’s dining room is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Info: (602) 522-2344.

T. Cook’s at Royal Palms has introduced several new spring/summer menu items featuring avocados, ranging from chilled avocado soup to avocado tempura. Perhaps the most unusual is executive pastry chef Pierino Jermonti’s Pasta Dolci Tropicale dessert, a baked streusel layered with avocado and tropical fruit cream, served with spiced pineapple cocktail puree. Be warned: It’s probably not a recipe for beginners.

Streusel
- 4½ oz hazelnut powder
- 4½ oz sugar
- 4½ oz AP flour
- 4½ oz butter

1. Place all ingredients in mixing bowl with a paddle, just to incorporate. Spread on a sheet pan lined with a silpat.
2. Bake till golden brown, in a 300-degree oven.
3. Pull out of the oven and top with the avocado mixture

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The fifth annual Forks & Corks, featuring 25 of Arizona’s top chefs, takes place from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday in east courtyard at the Camelback Esplanade on the southeast corner of Camelback Road and 24th Street in Phoenix.

Chefs will prepare one or two specialties from their respective menus for diners to sample, as well as boutique wines. The evening also includes jazz music from Alice Tatum and a silent auction.

The 21-and-over event benefits the scholarship fund of the Arizona Hotel and Restaurant Education Foundation.

Tickets are $65 in advance and $75 at the door. Info: (602) 604-0729.

Several Valley chefs and restaurateurs were shut out today when the James Beard Foundation announced finalists for its annual awards, the culinary equivalent of the Oscars.

Jack Strong (Kai) and Kevin Binkley (Binkley’s) had made the “long list” announced last month for Best Chef Southwest, but neither are among the five finalists in the category. The Southwest region includes Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.

Nobuo Fukuda, chef at Sea Saw in Scottsdale, won last year’s award for Best Chef Southwest. Arizona has had nine winning chefs, more than any other state in the region.

Other Valley long-list honorees who failed to make the final five in their respective categories: Vincent Guerithault (Vincent’s on Camelback) for Outstanding Chef, Sam Fox (Fox Restaurant Concepts) for Outstanding Restaurateur and Scottsdale’s Kazimierz World Wine Bar for Outstanding Wine Service.

See the final list of nominees here. The winners will be announced June 8.

Nearly three dozen East Valley chefs are participating in the fourth annual West of Western Culinary Festival this weekend at Phoenix Art Museum. The fest, which runs noon to 5 p.m. today and Sunday, features more than 50 of Arizona’s most acclaimed chefs (see list), food and wine samples, cooking classes and lectures.

One-day tickets are $85 for a food and wine pass, $77 for a food-only pass and $22 for children 9-15. Two-day tickets are $15o for food and wine and $134 for food-only. Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 N. Central Ave., is on the northeast corner of Central Avenue and McDowell Road.

Blame it on Dr. Seuss.

Iron Chef Cat Cora edged Valley chef Lee Hillson by one point Sunday night on the Food Network’s culinary competition “Iron Chef America.”

Her secret weapon? A variation of green eggs and ham, the title dish of Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel’s classic children’s book.

“It would have been nice (to win), but it’s not the be all and end all,” says Hillson, executive chef at the Royal Palms Resort & Spa’s prestigious restaurant, T. Cooks, in east Phoenix. “It’s one of those rushes most people will never experience.”

For awhile Sunday, it looked like the 39-year-old Mesa resident was headed to a third straight victory by a Valley chef on the television show. Elements chef Beau MacMillan won in 2006, and Tarbell’s chef Mark Tarbell won last year.

“The hardest thing was watching Mark’s show (which was televised a week after Hillson taped his show in September),” says Hillson, who wasn’t allowed to reveal his outcome. “People at Mark’s viewing party were saying, ‘You better have won. You better have kept the streak going.’

“I think Mark and Beau could actually read (on my face) what happened. They came up and said, ‘You’ve done something most chefs can only dream about. Even if you lose, you’ve won.’”

After the episode’s secret ingredient — ham — was revealed, Hillson and Cora had 60 minutes to make at least five dishes with either American Virginia ham, American country ham or Spanish serrano ham.

The English-born Hillson, who pulled off the rare feat of finishing his dishes nearly 10 minutes early, made ham-stuffed lobster carpaccio, a twice-baked ham souffle, fettucine carbonara, a ham-and-cheese pithivier and ham-stuffed rabbit.

Cora countered with six dishes: ham-and-gruyere croquettes, country ham dumplings in consomme, a ham-and-salsify wrap, a grilled ham tartiflette, cola-braised ham and — to the delight of the three-judge panel — a dish she called “green ham and eggs,” which featured serrano ham with green chimichurri sauce atop a poached duck egg.

The scoring by the judges — food author Ted Allen, public relations consultant Karine Bakhoum and fashion designer Marc Ecko — was close. Hillson beat Cora in taste, 25 points to 24. The two tied, 13-13, in plating. But Cora earned a two-point advantge in originality, 14-12, giving her an overall 51-50 victory.

Hillson, who watched Sunday’s show at a private viewing party at T. Cook’s with his wife, Kim, and the two assistants he selected for the competition, T. Cook’s sous chef Matthew Holmes and Estate House sous chef Chris Mayo, takes consolation in the judges’ opinion his dishes tasted better.

“That’s the part to me that means the most,” says Hillson, who recently was nominated for the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame. “I’d rather win in taste and narrowly lose overall than the other way around.”

Since he finished early, Hillson says he considered trying to make a dessert, an ice cream dish with deep-fried, caramelized pieces of ham.

“Looking back, I wish I had tried it,” he says. “But you never know.”

Clearing out recent press releases from my e-mail in-box (viewable as PDFs):

• More than 50 beers will be on tap at the World of Beers Friday and Saturday at Phoenix’s Margaret T. Hance Park.

• The popular annual Taste 2008 will take place April 6 at Kierland Commons in Scottsdale.

• Ristorante Tuscany, the fancy restaurant at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, is now offering wine tastings and private dining rooms. It’s also released its Easter brunch menu.

• The Desert Botanical Garden’s annual Agave on the Rocks, which includes tequila, food and Latin music, will be March 28.

• Scottsdale-based El Paso Grill & Bar-B-Que, which has nine restaurants in Arizona, has started a reverse happy hour with special $4 appetizers.

• Morton’s The Steakhouse is offering some limited-time deals to highlight their seafood offering.

• Chef/owner Bryan Elliott has taken over sole ownership of The Painted Horse in Scottsdale and named Todd Pearson as the new executive chef.

• Lon’s at The Hermosa Inn in Paradise Valley has been named best Southwest/eclectic in Arizona for the third year in a row by “Ranking Arizona: The Best in Arizona Business.”

Lee Hillson’s beefy frame shifts uncomfortably on the small sofa in his cramped east Mesa condo.

The executive chef at T. Cook’s, the prestigious restaurant at the Royal Palms Resort & Spa in east Phoenix, is talking about the pressure of following in the footsteps of Beau MacMillan and Mark Tarbell as the Valley’s latest challenger on “Iron Chef America.”

MacMillan, from Elements in Paradise Valley, defeated Iron Chef Bobby Flay on the Food Network’s popular television show in 2006. Tarbell, from Tarbell’s in Phoenix, beat Iron Chef Cat Cora last year.

Hillson filmed his episode in September. It airs at 11 p.m. Sunday.

“Those guys were amazing (at helping me prepare),” the shaven-head Hillson says in his English lilt. “Beau would come to the restaurant and watch me cook. One day, the three of us sat down and chatted at Tarbell’s.”

Their main advice?

“Just practice,” Hillson says.

The 39-year-old is sworn to secrecy — not only about the outcome of Sunday’s show but also about the identity of the secret ingredient. When the ingredient is revealed at the start of the episode, the two contestants have 60 minutes to prepare five dishes with it.

The Food Network has disclosed a few details. Sunday’s episode is titled “Hillson vs. Cora,” so the only female Iron Chef apparently will be trying to redeem herself after losing a battle of apple dishes to Tarbell.

Also known are the three judges who will decide Hillson’s fate: food author Ted Allen, best known as one of the “Fab Five” from TV’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” public relations consultant Karine Bakhoum and fashion designer Marc Ecko.

Hillson, who was born in England and raised there and in Australia, began cooking school at age 16. He was hired at T. Cook’s in 2000 and named executive chef in 2005.

Although he was trained in classical French style, he describes his cuisine as “Meditteranean-inspired.”

Without revealing too much about the dishes he made on the show, he says, “I think they were very true to how I cook. Not overcomplicated, with simple, clean flavors.”

Hillson will watch the show at a private T. Cook’s party with his wife, Kim, and the two assistants he chose for the competition, Matthew Holmes, sous chef at T. Cook’s, and Chris Mayo, now sous chef at Estate House in Scottsdale.

Regardless of the outcome, just competing on “Iron Chef America” is its own reward, Hillson says.

“I think it does wonders for your career — win, lose or draw,” he says. “It also does wonders for your restaurant because people can’t wait to go and see what you do.”

>> “Iron Chef America airs 11 p.m. Sunday on The Food Network.

For those who missed Chris Bianco’s appearance on “The Martha Stewart Show” today, the owner/chef of nationally acclaimed Pizzeria Bianco showed the homemaking diva how to make his delicious lemon focaccia bread. You can find his recipe here.

East Valley chefs Kevin Binkley and Jack Strong, along with Scottsdale restaurateur Sam Fox, have made the “long list” for this year’s James Beard awards, the restaurant world’s version of the Oscars.

This week, a preliminary ballot featuring 20 nominees in each category was sent to voters, who will trim the field to five in each category. Those finalists will be announced March 24, with winners announced June 8.

Binkley, owner and chef of Binkley’s in Carefree, and Strong, chef at Kai at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in Chandler, both made the ballot in the category of Best Chef: Southwest, which includes Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.

Nobuo Fukuda, chef at Seasaw in Scottsdale, won last year’s award for Best Chef: Southwest. Arizona has had nine winning chefs, more than any other state in the region.

Fox, founder of Scottsdale-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, is competing for Outstanding Restaurateur, a national category that includes Wolfgang Puck and Laurent Tourondel, who’s opening a BLT Steak in Scottsdale later this year. Fox restaurants include The Green House, Olive & Ivy, Bloom, Sauce, North, Wildflower and Blanco.

Scottsdale’s Kazimierz World Wine Bar made the list for Outstanding Wine Service, which recognizes “excellence in wine service through a well-presented wine list, knowledgable staff and efforts to educate customers about wine.”

Vincent Guerithault, of Phoenix’s Vincent on Camelback, is up for Outstanding Chef, another national category where the nominees also include Michael Mina, who just opened one of his Bourbon Steak restaurants in Scottsdale.

See the full ballot here.

Bratwurst- and sausage-maker Johnsonville fires up its Big Taste Grill today at the NFL Experience at University of Phoenix Stadium. Weighing more than 50,000 pounds, the 65-foot-long grill is mounted on its own semi-truck and can cook 750 brats at a time.

The grill will be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. today, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, 3 p.m. to midnight Thursday, 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Super Bowl Sunday.

Just in time for the Phoenix Open — er, I mean the FBR Open — Meritage Steakhouse at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa has added a Greg Norman Signature Wagyu New York strip steak to its menu.

Wagyu cattle, for the uninitiated, are the famed Japanese breeds known for producing well-marbled Kobe beef.

In recent years, Australia has become a major producer of Wagyu beef.

In 2006, Norman, the most famous golfer from Down Under, created a company called Greg Norman Australian Prime to bring luxury beef to the U.S. market.

Meritage’s 14-ounce Wagyu steaks, which are flown in weekly, cost $70.

The resort’s wine list includes Arnold Palmer Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet and Nick Faldo Shiraz and Syrah. The two golf legends designed the resort’s 36-hole Wildfire Golf Club.

Info: (480) 293-5000.