Rio Pizza unveils Italian pies with Rio Grande Valley ingredients

What: Rio Pizza, Italian pies w RGV ingredients

Where: The Market at Weslaco, 401 S. Kansas
When: Thursday January 6, 5pm to 7pm
Contact: 956-336-0809 southtexasnation@gmail.com

A portable brick oven is treating local food lovers to pizzas made with local ingredients.
  Alberto Gulino and his Italian heritage family have generations of pizza making behind them.
  But Italian heritage comes second to making a pizza with local ingredients.
  Rio Pizza, Alberto's mobile pizzeria that's outfitted with a wood-burning brick oven, depends on local ingredients for its namesake.
  "We want to live up to the name Rio Pizza," Gulino said emphatically.
  That's why Alberto sets up Rio Pizza every Thursday at the Weslaco
Farmers' Market, where he draws from the market's offerings to create
his menu, including cheese, tomato, field onion, lamb sausage and
more. Because of Alberto's commitment to using local food, the Texas Food
Revolution recruited him to their organization.
  The Texas Food Revolution is a team of volunteer and professional
chefs that make food using local ingredients.
  Gulino, a public school teacher at the IDEA public schools by day,
said that the the Texas Food Revolution's attempts to promote an
economy that improves our ecology is something that's a win-win for
everyone involved.
  "By simply using local ingredients, I can reduce pesticides,
hormones, antibiotics and chemical fertilizers from reaching our
waterways and ourselves ... but most of all, I can put the best tasting food on my
pizzas," he said.
  "Rio Pizza is what it claims to be, a movable pizzeria that
celebrates food grown and produced in the Rio Grande Valley," he said.
  Texas Food Revolution captain J.R. Garza said that Gulino's
commitment to using local food made him a perfect candidate for
inclusion in the group.
  "Here at the Texas Food Revolution, our first and foremost
commitment is to local food, and Alberto demonstrates that commitment
in a very delicious way. His brick oven pizzas made with his Italian
heritage know-how and topped with local ingredients are a real treat.
He even uses local mesquite to fire his oven," Garza said.
  Sample Gulino's creations at the Market at Weslaco, a full fledged
farmers' market that meets Thursdays 5pm to 7pm at 401 S. Kansas.
   Read more about The Market and The Texas Food Revolution at www.texasfoodrevolution.com

Grapefruit Pie Bale Off, Saturday Feb. 11 sponsored by Rio Queen-Red Cooper Citrus

What: Grapefruit pie bake off 
When: Sat Feb 11, 11am
Where: The Market, 519 S. 17th, McAllen
Fee: $5 entry fee per pie

Win $500 in cash and prizes by submitting the best grapefruit pie.
 Your pie will be judged by local chefs and food critics with a keen sense and value for local food and fresh recipes. There will be 2 categories for the pies: 1) Traditional and 2) Locavore.
    Category 1, Traditional, allows any ingredients but must include grapefruit from the Rio Grande Valley.     
   Category 2, Locavore requires at least 75 percent of ingredients to be grown or produced in the Rio Grande Valley.
   Call 336.0809 to sign up, email southtexasnation@gmail.com  Also, sign up at The Market at Alhambra or The Market at Weslaco. $5 entry fee per pie. Market times and details at www.texasfoodrevolution.com