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Small bites

By Times staff and wires
Published April 11, 2007

GET COOKIN': DEADLINE IS NEAR FOR BAKE-OFF

You could win $1-million for your original creation in the biggest of all recipe contests, the 43rd Pillsbury Bake-Off.

Entries will be accepted through April 22 but only online at www.bakeoff.yahoo.com via the electronic entry form. Recipes can be entered in five categories, including two new ones: pizza and Mexican-flavored foods.

Many new ingredients are eligible this year, including products from Jif, Smucker's, Crisco, Domino and C&H Sugar, Eggland's Best, Land O'Lakes and Fisher Nuts. Entries will be judged on taste, appearance, creativity and consumer appeal. One hundred finalists will be selected to compete and cook their dishes in Dallas, April 13-15, 2008.

Sweet inspiration

While you're mulling over your Bake-Off entries, pick up Best of the Pillsbury Bake-Off Desserts (Wiley; $17.95) for inspiration. In this first in a series devoted to winning Bake-Off recipes, Pillsbury editors have chosen 108 recipes - from the French Silk Pie (1957) and Tunnel of Fudge Cake (1966) to Peach Berry Cobbler (1961) and Tiramisu Toffee Torte (1992). It's filled with more than 35 color photos, along with the history of the contest, which started in 1949.

Drinkable vitamins

Do we really need Diet Coke with vitamins and minerals? Apparently the folks at Coca-Cola North America think we do - and have launched Diet Coke Plus, a calorie-free version with vitamins B3, B6 and B12, plus zinc and magnesium. Each 8-ounce serving provides 15 percent of the daily value for the vitamins included and 10 percent of the daily value for the minerals. Our tasters couldn't detect any real flavor difference (but we didn't taste it side-by-side with Diet Coke without the vitamins and minerals).

Compiled from Times wires

ON THE MENU

Gallagher's at Channelside

Gallagher's Steakhouse has taken up residence at the site of the defunct Signature Room at 615 Channelside Drive, No. 203. While the original Signature Room is a sleek art deco steakhouse on the 95th floor of Chicago's Hancock Building, Gallagher's is an outpost of a historic steak house in New York City's theater district. Prime steaks and chops range in price from $27 to $40, with the full complement of steak house sides from creamed spinach to onion rings. It is open for dinner only from 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For reservations, call (813) 229-8000 or visit www.opentable.com.

Brazilian flavor

Boizao made its debut at the end of March at 4606 Boy Scout Blvd. in Tampa's West Shore neighborhood. Portuguese for "buffalo," Boizao is a new addition to the growing number of Brazilian steak houses in the area, offering a prix-fixe, all-you-can-eat approach to traditional gaucho cuisine. Servers circulate through the dining room wielding skewers of slow-roasted meat, which are then carved tableside. Open for lunch weekdays and dinner nightly, the cost is $18.90 for lunch and $39.90 for dinner (children under 6 eat for free, and children 7 to 10 are half price). For reservations, call (813) 286-7100.

Laura Reiley, Times food critic

[Last modified April 10, 2007, 11:13:51]