Valley chefs "spice" things up at EVIT

Ten top Valley chefs donated their time and talent to help students whip up a beautiful gourmet dinner at the East Valley Institute of Technology Thursday night.


The chefs were participating in the school's annual Mystery Chef Dinner, which raises money for culinary student scholarships. Each year, the dinner has a different theme. Last year's theme was "cheese"; this year, it was "spice."


EVIT culinary students were hard at work all night, cooking, hosting and serving.


What a great event! Thanks to all the chefs who made the dinner extra special. To see more pictures from the night, click here.

Reserve your seat for EVIT's Mystery Chef Dinner

Enjoy a good mystery?

Then you should join the EVIT culinary department for its annual Mystery Chef Dinner on March 11.

The food will be amazing -- that's no mystery. But you won't know exactly who will be cooking for you until you arrive. Twelve well-known Valley chefs will be on hand to whip up some amazing culinary concoctions, all based around this year's theme: cheese.

Past chefs who have participated include Mark Tarbell of Tarbell's, Beau MacMillan of Elements, and Richard Dupere of The Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix.

Tickets are $65, and every dollar of that goes toward culinary student scholarships. The dinner will be held in the EVIT culinary department's banquet room. Hors d'oeuvres will be served during a silent auction, which begins at 6 p.m.; dinner starts at 7 p.m. To make reservations, call Tricia Guerrero at (480) 461-4139.

Last year's theme was chocolate. Check out photos from that event here.

EVITEF Breakfast Fundraiser recap

The EVIT Education Foundation breakfast this morning was a great success! Here are some highlights:

The culinary students were up and at it by 5 a.m. this morning, getting everything ready:

We had some wonderful guests and good conversation. Meet my tablemates, a group of fine folks from SRP:

Of course, the food was amazing:

Current and former students got up to say a few words about what EVIT has meant for their futures:

Local chef extraordinaire Mark Tarbell was honored as EVITEF's Sam and Olga Bender Award winner for his support of career and technical education:

Attendees were given a chance to bid on the centerpieces, which were hand-crafted by our welding instructors and students. I've had my eye on this one for several weeks... and I won it!

And to cap off the morning, culinary students handed out loaves of freshly baked pumpkin bread as people left:

What a great event! The fundraiser brought in more money than ever before, and it will go a long way in supporting our students and programs. A huge thank you to everyone who came out to support EVITEF!