By Devin Monk
reporter@ltview.com
If island life is heaven, visitors at this year’s Foodie Palooza will be treated to a slice of paradise.
Faraday’s Kitchen Store will take guests on a free Adventure to the Islands with its fourth annual food festival from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday and 3-5 p.m. Sunday at the store’s Lakeway location, 1501 RR 620 North in Oak Grove Plaza.

Tropical attire, music, and attitude will invite everyone from regular customers to families to novice chefs to learn about dishes with a Caribbean flavor while having fun.
Faraday’s owner Tony Curtis-Wellings and store manager Sharon O’Quinn said the highly anticipated Foodie Paloozas are a way for the store to thank its customers for their support since it opened in 2005 while offering several vendor specials.
“This is just our way to give back a little bit,” said Curtis-Wellings who was born in The Bahamas and grew up on St. Lucia.
His father, a culinary chef in hotel restaurants, taught his son an archipelago’s worth of island dishes as he grew up in the Caribbean. Curtis-Wellings and his wife, Melissa, built on those recipes and adapted them to use ingredients more readily available on the mainland as they opened 20 restaurants in the 1980s and hosted classes at Faraday’s.
His love for his heritage and passion for cooking inspired this year’s theme.
“I wanted to do something that went back to my roots,” he said.
He and O’Quinn also felt that as more families are cutting back on spending by not taking vacations, they should bring the vacation to them.
“People can get away (at Foodie Palooza) without getting away,” she said.
The two-day event begins with a Messermeister knife skills class and ceviche tasting from 8:30- 11:15 a.m. Saturday, but the class is full and registration is closed.
Those who didn’t make the cut may come in from 9:30-11:30 a.m. for a Cuisinart island ice cream tasting. Store employees were still finalizing three tropical delights as of Tuesday as they selected the best of the creamy concoctions.
Chef Jerry Pizzitola will dazzle guests with an Oxo Island Gadget Demonstration that would teach even the Professor a thing or two from 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Pizzitola, a familiar face who teaches classes and workshops at Faraday’s, will make a tropical salad and roasted pork loin using peelers, salad spinners, and more all while entertaining guests.
“He’ll pull the audience in and make it fun,” Curtis-Wellings said of the Kitchen Duty owner who is also an entertainer.
Chef John Lopez’ chicken Yucatan tacos and red-green salsas will sparkle in the Swiss Diamond non-stick cookware demonstration from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Pizzitola will return from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. to whip up a West Indian curried chicken with peas and rice using Le Creuset cast-iron cookware.
Free samples and printed copies of the recipes will be available for customers to take home.
Sunday’s free salsa tasting and contest will spice up the day from 3 to 5 p.m. as Vita-Mix blends in an island drink demonstration and offers samples..
O’Quinn said the store’s phone has been ringing with questions and entries for the contest. Judges Tony Curtis-Wellings, Vita-Mix Blenders representative Robert Heineman, Carters’ Select sauce and mix owners David and Carol Carter, and Sazon restaurant owner Margarito Aranda, who also is the 2008 winner of the Austin Hot Sauce Festival, would engage in heated debate over the best of 40-plus entries. The Carters are also expected to unveil a new salsa line at the event.
The overall winner will receive a Vita Mix blender, and other winners will take home prizes from Cuisinart.
Foodie Palooza is designed to provide cooks not only with quality kitchen tools but also an entertaining experience.
Celebrity chefs – all the rage on Food Network and other cable shows – have spurred the success of previous Foodie Paloozas.
Tre Wilcox, a winner on Top Chef, and Jeff Blank, owner of Hudson’s on the Bend restaurant in RR 620, participated in last year’s event.
“We really wanted to create an event that anyone — families, single cooks, experts — could come in and enjoy,” Curtis-Wellings said.
For information, visit www.faradayskitchenstore.com or call the store at 266-5666. The store will be open from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.