Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal File Photo
Ten cooks will get out their pasta pots and be ready to rumble this weekend at the fifth annual Oodles of Noodles festival in Old Town Dayton on Saturday.
Kevin Hogan, general manager for the new Daytona Casino, is improving his odds by entering two dishes in the competition.
"We'll have two kinds of spaghetti, one with an Italian meat sauce and another with a traditional vegetable sauce," he said, adding that the Daytona cooks will also sell Italian sausage sandwiches.
"I think everyone has their strategy," he said. "I think we'll be competitive."
Hogan said proceeds from the casino's booth will be donated to the Lyon County Parks and Recreation's Latchkey Program.
"We want to support the Chamber of Commerce and the Dayton community," he said.
Gilles Galhaud, who won both the main competition and the People's Choice Award last year, regrets that he won't be cooking this year. He is planning to open a French bistro in Carson City in a few months, and said there's just too much to do.
"It is a fun event and well-organized," he said. "I was glad to do it."
He won with a dish of fettuccini alfredo with grilled herb chicken and a pesto drizzle, he said. "They seem to prefer Italian food over anything else," he said.
Cary Dyer, executive director of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, which puts on the event, said tasting will begin immediately at 9 a.m., and the judging will be from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., with people's choice judging at 3 p.m. He added there will be plenty of pasta for hungry festival-goers.
The top prize for the best cooks are round-trip tickets from Reno to Las Vegas aboard Southwest Airlines.
In addition, there will be prizes for tasters as well as cooks.
"The 300th ticket purchaser will receive a $20-goodie bag," Dyer said. "And when they put their ballot in, they should include their phone number. We'll have drawings for one $50 prize and two $25 prizes."
KOZZ will be doing a live broadcast during the event, which drew about 5,000 people last year, Dyer said. The festival benefits the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.
Dyer said many of the entries celebrate Dayton's rich Chinese and Italian heritage, and recipes in the past have gotten extra points for their cultural significance.
• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.
If you go
WHAT: Fifth annual Oodles of Noodles festival
WHEN: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Pike Street and Logan Way, Old Town Dayton
CALL: 246-7909
Entertainment Schedule:
10:30 a.m.
Charles Lawson
Jingle and Michael Harris Ford
Silver and Gold Comstock Singers
Mischa Zawaskis, singer-guitarist
Noon
Tee Lee and the Old Fogies Band
Willis Lamm
Harold and Diane Miller, cowboy poetry
2 p.m.
Rees Butikofer
Sarah Hasson
Charlie Duke
3:15 p.m.
Smokey Vanness, vocal impersonator
Tony Argento, cowboy poet