Last fall Eight, Arizona PBS hosted the first annual Eight's Great GrillFest in Peoria, bringing national and local celebrity chefs to the Valley to celebrate the art of cooking with fire. This November the event will return to a new venue and will have a new focus on fine wines. Some of the Southwest's top chefs will return for a day of food, drinks, and cooking demonstrations.
Tickets for the second annual event go on sale this Friday, August 8 on the Eight's Great GrillFest website.
See also: Eight's Great GrillFest in Peoria, 11/3/13 (Slideshow)
This year's Eight's Great GrillFest will be held on Sunday, November2 at Trilogy Golf Club at Vistancia from noon to 3 p.m.
As with last year's event, the festival will be hosted by Barbara Pool Fenzl, cookbook author and host of Eight's Savor the Southwest. She'll be joined by James Beard Award-winning chef Robert McGrath, host of Eight's Check, Please! Arizona. Both Fenzl and McGrath will take the stage during the day for cooking demonstrations.
Other featured guests will include Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster of America's Test Kitchen. In addition to appearing on the show, Davison is executive food editor of the show's new media, television and radio initiatives, while Lancaster is executive food editor of the show's book division and appears on Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen.
On the drinks side the festival will feature James Beard Award-winng wine authority Anthony Dias Blue, an author, columnist, and TV and radio personality. Blue is known for running the San Francisco International Wine Competition, the largest global wine competition in the USA, as well as the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Each of the featured guest will do cooking demonstrations throughout the day and join hosts McGrath and Fenzl in a panel discussion.
The Valley's own Martie Sullivan of Sweet Basil Gourmetware and Cooking School will also host a seminar on high-quality kitchen gear.
General admission for the event costs $40 and includes food, wine and beer tastings. VIP admission costs $50 and includes early entrance to the festival and access to the panel discussion. Tickets can be purchased online.
