Saturday Cooking Demonstrations

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Saturday Cooking Demos

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Ever wonder how a trained chef would make your favorite meal? Learn culinary tips and tricks from the best during the Great Arizona Picnic's Saturday Cooking Demos. You'll be a pro before you know it!

Event Emcee:
Heidi Lee, Chef & Founder of InToTheSoup.com

	Demonstration Schedule

1:00 PM - Chef Aaron May, Iruna
2:30 PM - Chef Michael DeMaria, M Culinary Concepts
3:45 PM - Chef Jason Wyrick, The Vegan Culinary Experience

	Event Details

Date & Time:

Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Location:

Cooking Demonstration Tent
Scottsdale Civic Center Plaza
7380 E 2nd St, Scottsdale, AZ

Maps:

Parking & Trolley
Map

2011 GAP
Grounds Map

Attire:

Casual

Tickets:

Included in $10 GAP entrance fee

All events, prices, personalities, performances, venues, dates and times subject to change without notice. No refunds or exchanges.

Date & Time:

Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Location:

Cooking Demonstration Tent
Scottsdale Civic Center Plaza
7380 E 2nd St, Scottsdale, AZ

Maps:

Parking & Trolley
Map

2011 GAP
Grounds Map

Attire:

Casual

Tickets:

Included in $10 GAP entrance fee

All events, prices, personalities, performances, venues, dates and times subject to change without notice. No refunds or exchanges.

	Participating Chefs

Michael DeMaria
Executive Chef

Michael DeMaria

Executive Chef
M Catering by Michael's

Festival Event(s):

Best of the Fest

Saturday Cooking Demos

Chef Michael DeMaria is renowned throughout the Phoenix Metropolitan region and beyond for his inventive and exceptional American and Italian contemporary cuisines

Chef Michael was trained by the superior chefs at the five-star Arizona Biltmore. His dynamic background includes teaching culinary arts at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and working at well-known destinations such as San Francisco’s Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix’s famous Royal Palms Hotel and Lon’s at the Hermosa Inn, the Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles and Westin Hotel Corporation. In 1992, Chef Michael was selected as one of 25 chefs to comprise Team U.S.A., which represented the United States in the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany. For a decade, 1997-2007, Chef Michael’s highly acclaimed namesake restaurant, Michael’s at the Citadel, located in the high Sonoran Desert of North Scottsdale, received recognitions such as the AAA 4-Diamond award, Mobil 3-Star award, Wine Spectator magazine’s Award of Excellence and the Zagat Survey’s “extraordinary.”

Business partners Chef Michael and Brandon Maxwell are co-owners of M Culinary Concepts business with operations that include: M Catering by Michael’s, a 36,000 square-foot commissary kitchen and warehouse, is a chef-driven concept serving world cuisine to parties of eight to 8,000; Main Course, Chef Michael’s unique corporate dining experience that offers meal service to businesses within their on-site dining facilities, as well as VIP events, special meetings and holiday parties; and M Restaurants, a cuttingedge, contemporary restaurant concept designed and developed by Chef Michael. His newest venture is Heirloom - An American Restaurant, located at DC Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona, which opened in January of 2009. Heirloom has received high praise from area diners, as well as the media: “…dinner at Heirloom is flat-out delicious.” – The Arizona Republic; “…you’ll love DeMaria’s new place, which focuses on fresh seasonal delights.” – PHOENIX Magazine, October ’09; and One of 23 Best New Restaurants, November ‘09 – PHOENIX Magazine.

Chef Michael continues to receive awards such as Phoenix Home & Garden 2002 “Master of the Southwest” Master Chef; New Times “Best of Phoenix;” Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame Inductee 2002; as well as several PHOENIX Magazine’s “Best of the Valley” recognition awards.

Heidi Lee
InToTheSoup.com

Heidi Lee

InToTheSoup.com

Festival Event(s):

Challenge to the Chefs

Saturday Cooking Demos

Heidi Lee is the founder and CEO of into the Soup, LLC (www.intothesoup.com) a food and travel media company based in Phoenix, AZ. The mission of her company is to support the culinary arts so that dining doesn't go the way of Wal-Mart and claims that into the Soup is "The Most Fun You'll Have in Your Kitchen with Your Clothes On!" Heidi started her cooking career on Charter Boats in the Caribbean Islands and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in search of boys, booze and new kinds of food. Heidi has travelled all over the world cooking, eating and drinking and brings her love and passion for all that to everyone she meets. Listen in to her tales and those of her very interesting guests during her radio program every Saturday from 2-3 p.m. on KFNX 1100 AM and KWSS 106.7.

Aaron May
Executive Chef

Aaron May

Executive Chef
Iruna

Festival Event(s):

Saturday Cooking Demos

Raised in the suburbs of Chicago, May developed a love of food at a young age. Casually working in restaurant kitchens from the age of 15,and after a brief stint at University, May enrolled in the culinary arts program at Scottsdale Community College. Upon finishing, May went on to study in Paris. He worked in Arizona hotels and in New York City before returning to Scottsdale to open his restaurant company, Eatwell and Drinlalott. Aaron can be found at his restaurants around Arizona from the casual tacos and tortas of Vitamin T in Phoenix, breakfast at Over Easy or the Midwestern flair of the Lodge. May can often be seen in the kitchen whipping up Spanish Tapas at Iruna, bellied up to the bar at chic mid-century cocktail lounge Mabels, or in Tucson at May’s Counter serving up southern food with an Arizona twist.

His critically acclaimed cuisine won him praise from the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame, which named him “Chef Extraordinaire” in 2010. He has appeared on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” The Learning Channel’s "Best Food Ever" and in numerous publications such as Food & Wine, Condé Nast Traveler and USA Today.

Jason Wyrick
Executive Chef

Jason Wyrick

Executive Chef
Devil Spice

Festival Event(s):

Saturday Cooking Demos

Jason Wyrick is the executive chef and publisher of The Vegan Culinary Experience, an educational vegan culinary magazine with a readership of about 30,000. In 2001, Chef Jason reversed his diabetes by switching to a low-fat, vegan diet and subsequently left his position as the Director of Marketing for an IT company to become a chef and instructor to help others. Since then, he has been featured by the NY Times, Edible Phoenix, and the Arizona Republic, and has had numerous local television appearances. He has catered for companies such as Google, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and Farm Sanctuary, has been featured in the Scottsdale Culinary Festival’s premier event, and has been a guest instructor in the Le Cordon Bleu program at Scottsdale Culinary Institute. Recently, Chef Jason wrote a book with Dr. Neal Barnard entitled 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart. You can find out more about Chef Jason Wyrick at www.veganculinaryexperience.com.

	Event Sponsors

Great Arizona Picnic Grounds Map

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Printable PDF Version

Great Arizona Picnic Participating Restaurants

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Angelo’s Italian Ice

Angelo’s Italian Ice

Website: www.angelositalianice.com

Festival Event(s):