BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Sun Valley Culinary Institute is launching a Passport to Dining to support Wood River Valley restaurant during the pandemic.
The two-month-long promotion is designed to encourage valley residents to dine in or take out between Oct. 15 and Dec. 15, the tail end of which is considered slack season in the Wood River Valley.
Sun Valley Culinary Institute is designing and printing passports and providing them to participating restaurants. Those who present their passport after dining will receive a stamp in their book. And when the passport is completed, it will be submitted for a chance to win a drawing for an overnight stay at Boise’s Hotel 43, along with dinner at Chandler’s.
The winner will be announced Dec. 30.
Restaurants who want to participate should contact Karl Uri at 208-309-2700 or email him at karl@sunvalleyculinary.org. There is no charge to be included on the passport.
INSTITUTE MITIGATES COVID, OFFERS CLASS WITH ROBIN LEVANTHAL
Sun Valley native Chef Robin Leventhal, who appeared on “Top Chef,” is teaching a handful of classes at the Institute this coming week
She will be teaching Delicious Dumplings from noon to 2 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14. And she will teach a class on Demystifying Global Flavors from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16.
Levanthal went to the University of Michigan to earn an MFA in Ceramics. While there, she took a job in the catering department and fell in love with cooking.
She has worked as a chef for 30-plus years, teaching at the New England Culinary Institute and Wine Country Culinary Institute. She is the former owner and operator of Crave, a popular Seattle bistro serving contemporary comfort food on Capitol Hill. She competed as a cheftestant on Top Chef in 2009 and sits on a board for Fred Hutch Premier Chefs.
To register, visit www.sunvalleyculinary.org.
Meanwhile, the Sun Valley Culinary is upgrading its building with an improved ventilation system. Demand Controlled Ventilation, a new ion-boosting technology, is intended to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, said Mindy Meads, chair of the Institute board.