Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Culinary greats from all over the world will descend on Puerto Vallarta, Mexico this November. The 19th Annual Festival Gourmet International takes place November 14-23, 2013 at over 25 Banderas Bay area restaurants, including Kaiser Maximilian on Olas Altas in the city's Zona Romantica.

"I think it's a really great event," says Kaiser Maximilian Guest Chef, Tony Aiazzi. "This is an unusual event because it brings all types of chefs together and they are welcome into kitchens and really become part of the team." He likes the fact that the festival goes on for over a week, which gives the chefs time to develop recipes, soak up the atmosphere and learn something new.

Kaiser Maximilian Guest Chef, Tony Aiazzi

Tony started his career by attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York and has pretty much stayed in the Big Apple ever since. He says it is a city with a lot of crazy things going on between chefs, but it is also a place where the public eats out a lot and that drives him to be even better.

He was a Chef-at-Large with the Charlie Palmer Restaurant Group for over ten years and worked as a consultant for the group's 12 restaurants all over the US. Besides recipe development, some of his projects included menu and equipment coordination for charity benefits, showcase dinners, recipe development for regular appearances on NBC's Today Show and cookbooks, including The Art of Aureole and Charlie Palmer's New American Kitchen.

Tony then worked for over four years as a consulting chef for Seabourn Cruise Line and recently he has taken a break from the restaurant kitchen and launched several other culinary projects.

ChouxBox, a new way to keep track of your cabbage, is a software program for the hospitality industry, aimed at providing accountants, chefs and operators with real time analytics and increased accountability on a collaborative platform. ChouxBox provides costs as they happen, bridging the gap between kitchen staff and the accounting team.

The Workshop Kitchen, a development team specializing in branded culinary projects. They have a digital cookbook series called, The Sides Project. It is just what the title implies, the side dishes. It is an e-cook book, a PDF download including both Thanksgiving and Barbecue editions with more recipes currently under research, including Mexican food. Check it out at TheSidesProject.com.

Tony's Festival Gourmet menu at Kaiser Maximilian features many interesting combinations made with local, fresh ingredients. The appetizers include, fresh oysters margertia mignonette, chilled corn and coconut milk soup and cheese ravioli with prosciutto. Some of the main course choices are salmon roasted succotash, thyme roasted beef tenderloin and red snapper with roasted cauliflower. You cannot skip dessert with a pumpkin pudding/ginger snap parfait and molasses pound cake.

Be sure to visit Kaiser Maximilian during Festival Gourmet and the Chef's Table will be held on Sunday, November 17 starting at 8 pm. This is a six course dinner with appropriate wine pairings and is an evening you won't want to miss.

Tony says cooking is like math, you want to get the equation right. Traditional cooking is about how all ingredients fit together. You do not necessarily need something fancy to make a great meal. He says sometimes a ham and butter sandwich is all you need to satisfy. He also says he loves to visit street food stands and you may see him sampling tacos at midnight.

Open Monday-Saturday from 8 am to 11 pm for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Kaiser Maximilian Restaurant & Cafe is located at Olas Altas #38B in the Zona Romántica of Puerto Vallarta. For reservations call (322) 223-0760 or visit KaiserMaximilian.com

Click HERE to read more about Kaiser Maximilian.