UPCOMING: Burger Bash At Karbach Brewery (Tuesday 10.18.2016)

Does the idea of eating burgers created by some of Houston's top chefs and drinking beer for three hours make you want to click your heels with glee? Well, that's what I did when I was invited to this upcoming burger competition hosted by Pat La Frieda and Food Fanatics. 

Yes, there are THREE cronuts on that middle shake.

(Well, honestly, I get giddy whenever I am invited to any "VIP" food event. Yes, it is that easy to flatter me.)

If the prospect of eating my way through the burger entries wasn't sufficiently enticing, I recently confirmed that milkshakes garnished with multiple baked goods will be on hand.

ON-GOING: LuAnn's Kitchen Contest at Luby's

Is your 10-year-old son Jacques Pepin reincarnated? Is your 12-year-old niece a Julia Child in training? Luby's is partnering with Homemade Hope to find best budding chef in Houston.

They were kids once, too! Credit: Associated Press.

Here are the details:

LuAnn’s Kitchen Contest officially launches today, offering junior chefs ages 10 to 15 the opportunity to win a $1,000 grand prize and have their dishes featured and credited on the Luby’s line throughout the Houston area, while collaborating with and supporting similarly aged homeless and at-risk children involved in Homemade Hope. A portion of sales from the showcased dishes will benefit Homemade Hope, helping to fund the initiative that brings a taste of home to kids residing in the city's shelters and transitional living centers through culinary arts programming designed to foster creativity, develop life skills and feed every child's belief that life has hope.

In the preliminary round of the two-phase contest, entrants are asked to submit – either online or via mail – original and typed side, entrée or dessert recipes crafted from a list of ingredients found on the contest page. Due by midnight onSeptember 30, 2016, all entries must consist be accompanied by a title of up to 45 characters, a short description of how the recipe came about or family/friend taste taster feedback (up to 1,000 characters), an ingredient list (up to 1,000 characters using common U.S. household measures), the resulting number of portions, step-by-step preparation instructions including cooking times (up to 2,000 characters) and a photograph or drawing of the completed dish (digital files must be no larger than 6 mb).

Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of corporate chefs from Luby’s, who will select up to ten finalists based on perceived taste, presentation depicted in the photo or drawing, creativity/originality and written description. Finalists will be invited to the Luby’s Uptown Houston flagship at a soon to be determined date in October for a cook-off challenge. Each junior chef will be paired with a junior sous chef from Homemade Hope plus a Luby’s manager, and the team will be tasked to replicate the recipe in the kitchen for final judging by a group of VIPs, including Houston area media, personalities and chefs.

For more information about the LuAnn’s Kitchen Contest, log onto www.lubysluannskitchencontest.com. Recipe submissions can be uploaded at that page or mailed to: LuAnn’s Kitchen Contest c/o Luby’s Fuddruckers Restaurants, LLC 13111 Northwest Freeway, Suite 600 Houston, TX 77040.

James Beard Foundation Blended Burger Project Featuring Shannen Tune

For those of you who didn't get the memo, one of our own kicked ass recently on Chopped!   

Now, he's involved in another national competition sponsored by the James Beard Foundation. In the spirit of sustainable cooking and farming, the Foundation is running The Blended Burger Project in which chefs across the country are invited to submit their creative burger that uses a combination of ground meat and mushrooms. Since there is no paucity of culinary talent in Houston, Tune is one of many local chefs competing; go here to vote for your favorite.   

I caught up with Tune recently to learn a little bit about his background. Here are my seven favorite facts about the Chopped! winner:

7. He Played Hard to Get With Chopped Producers. Five years in a row Tune was emailed and asked to audition for the show. He ignored the offers until a friend urged him to give it a go.

6. Kids' Cereal Is Not Off Limits. Tune's favorite variety? It's a toss-up between Fruit Loops and Cocoa Puffs.

5. ..And, For That Matter, Neither Is Ketchup On Hot Dogs. Bridey agrees but recognizes such a belief would get her booted out of Chicago. (Well, whatever, that town doesn't love me back anyway because one of my ancestors tried to burn it down.)  Tune does reasonably note that he prefers his customers take a bite his burgers first before drowning them in ketchup, as he pays very special attention to adding other condiments that might be masked by the deluge of Heinz.

4. Fashion Is Other Passion. Apparently his creativity extends to cloth as well as cuisine because he's starting a line of chef jackets.

3. An Admirable International Education. Some serious wanderlust has led Tune to travel to India, Thailand, and Malaysia among other destinations and his all-time favorite meal abroad was in a hut in Negril, Jamaica. 

2. Mentors Not Idols. Tune doesn't "idolize" chefs with whom he has never worked, but rather pays homage to those who have mentored him along the way, specifically, Jason Weaver. Wise outlook, my friend.

1. At Two Years Old He Was A Sous-Chef. Tune's mom vividly recalls walking into the kitchen one day to see that Tune (then a toddler) was in the process of pulling out all the ingredients to make chocolate cake in the order in which he had previously observed his mom use them. I CANNOT STAND THE CUTENESS.