– A putting tip from Tiger Woods … singing lessons from BarbraStreisand … a password created by Bill Gates …
For interested cooks, the Gourmet Alley Demonstration Stage presented by Amici’s
East Coast Pizzeria at the 2009 Gilroy Garlic Festival will provide comparable benefits.
Established in 2005 in a tented theater setting on the Ranch side of Gourmet Alley,
the Demonstration Stage presents eight daily exhibitions hosted by the festival’s renowned
pyro chefs. Each presentation focuses on the behind-the-scenes secrets of a popular
Gourmet Alley menu item.
“Several years ago one of our pyro chefs was on a business trip to Kansas City right
before Thanksgiving,” Festival board of directors member and longtime pyro chef Ken Fry
recalled. “During a break in a meeting, a total stranger approached him and said he had attended
the festival for years and had always wondered how our chefs prepared the garlic
scampi and peppersteak sandwiches. That scenario has repeated itself hundreds of times
over the years. We don’t have any ‘secrets.’ We’re flattered that the public enjoys our menu,
and we enjoy the opportunity to pass along the recipes.”
In a venue surrounded by 41 live concerts, three prominent cooking competitions, a
rollicking children’s area, arts and crafts exhibits and numerous family activities, festival
chefs will prepare their notable cuisine with 10 tons of beef, four tons of pasta, four tons of
calamari, two tons of scampi and two tons of fresh Christopher Ranch garlic.
Included among the roster of pyro chefs who will be conducting seminars at the festival
are Alan Heinzen, Greg Bozzo, Bob Filice, Steve Janisch, Ed Ryken, Shane Ryken,
John Vickroy, Steve Mayne, Gourmet Alley co-chairman Keith Bowles and the popular cooking
team SakaBozzo (Gene Sakahara and Sam Bozzo), authors of the critically acclaimed
cookbook “Any Bozzo Can Cook,” whose second printing is set to be released at the festival.
The 2009 Gilroy Garlic Festival will be open July 24-26 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at
Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy. Admission costs $12 for adults, $6 for seniors ages 60 and up
and $6 for children ages 6-12. Children under age 6 will be admitted free. Parking is also
free.
Advance tickets are available online at
Information can be obtained by calling the festival office at (408) 842-1642.
