If you’ve got a great recipe for a traditional Mexican dish, you’d better hurry: the deadline for submissions to the “Recetas de mi tierra” cookbook contest is this Friday. The National Museum of Mexican Art is holding the contest to celebrate its 20th anniversary, and winners will receive a copy of the cookbook, not to mention “their place in history.” Contest guidelines can be found on the museum’s Web site.
Andersonville’s In Fine Spirits hosts a tasting from 5:30 to 7:30 PM Friday with winemaker Gregory Graziano; the regular Saturday tasting’s the following day from 3-6.
Wines from Provenance Food and Wine’s weekly tasting will be paired Saturday with samples of sweet and savory treats from TipsyCake Bakery in Humboldt Park, personally provided by owner Naomi Stepanek. It’s from 3-6 PM and it’s free.
Chicago’s inaugural Pizza Fest kicks off Saturday at noon on the 2300 block of N. Racine and continues until 10 PM –Sunday it starts at the same time but ends at 8 PM. In addition to the requisite pizza for sale, the festival will feature live music, pizza competitions, acrobatic pizza dough tossing (courtesy of the U.S. Pizza Team), wine tasting, and “Cornhole” (better known as beanbag toss) tournaments. Suggested gate donation is $5.
The Botanic Garden’s weekly Garden Chef series, which includes free cooking demonstrations in the open-air kitchen of the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden, this week features Heather Terhune from Atwood Cafe on Saturday and Doug D’Avico from Trattoria No. 10 on Sunday. Demonstrations are at 1:30 and 2:30 PM both days.
Fondue restaurant Geja’s Cafe, self-proclaimed to be “Chicago’s most romantic restaurant” (it has supposedly been the site of 123,702 first dates and 15,239 engagements) will celebrate its 42nd anniversary by offering 42% off all food bills from July 1-5.