Fabio Vivani, Jamie Lauren and Ryan Scott from Bravo's Top Chef to compete for $5000 prize

Pizarro: Chefs will work their magic at Gilroy Garlic Festival

By Sal Pizarro
spizarro@mercurynews.com
Posted: 07/24/2009 12:00:00 AM PDT

One of the great things about the Gilroy Garlic Festival is discovering the amazing dishes chefs create with the, uh, aromatic bulbs.
This year's festival, which opens today and runs through Sunday at Christmas Hill Park, should be no exception.
Gilroy chef Rachel Spivack is a whiz with garlic, using it to spice up her Southwestern style dishes. Sam Bozzo and Gene Sakahara always have a few tricks up their sleeves, and they'll compete in a Master Chef challenge today.
Caterers Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme will be making their first appearance at the festival this year. Co-owner Debbie Blackwell told me they'll be whipping up their famous paella, garlic style.
There even will be celebrity chefs around, including Fabio Viviani, Jamie Lauren and Ryan Scott from Bravo's "Top Chef."
And don't miss the Great Gilroy Garlic Cook-Off, featuring eight contestants from around the country. That gets started at 10 a.m. Saturday, but if you can't make it, the competition is being streamed at www.gilroygarlicfestival.com.
Admission is $12 each day, with seniors and children 6-12 getting in for $6.

The Paella booth from celebrated catered Parsley, Sage Rosemary and Time is 3 booths away from Rapazzinis The Garlic Shoppe booth #13 exhibitors for 31 years. SakaBozzo cookbooks will be available from The Garlic Shoppe online after the festival. http://GarlicShoppe.com.

"Top Chef" Fan Favorite to Host Garlic Showdown
Jun 15, 2009
By Staff Report The Gilroy Dispatch
Fabio Vivani, the Fan Favorite for Bravo TV's "Top Chef" will host this year's Gilroy Garlic Festival Garlic Showdown July 26, officials said.
Vivani grew up in Florence, Italy and is known for incorporating Italian, French and Spanish styles into his food. He specializes in molecular cuisine, and uses cutting-edge technology to prepare food. He is the owner and executive chef of Cafe Firenze Italian Restaurant and Martini Bar. He is also William Shatner's private chef.

As host for the Garlic Showdown, Vivani will talk about what the chefs are doing, how hard it is to cook in such a short amount of time, and cooking in general, said 2009 festival President Kirsten Carr.

"He's the host, the MC," she said.

Carr described Vivani as "incredibly energetic."

In the competition, four Bay Area contestants will have two hours to prepare and serve a dish that uses a "secret ingredient."

While Vivani didn't win "Top Chef," he won the love of his audience.

"In the week after I got kicked out from the show I received over 2 million e-mails. Now you have an idea of how many two million e-mails are? Well I did not and all the computer servers at my restaurant went down and we had to update all of them with a new Internet provider," Vivani said in his Bravo TV blog.

Since the show, he opened two restaurants in Ventura Country, published a cookbook and opened a foundation that focuses on encouraging children's health through proper nutrition