Gustav Mauler named Restauranteur of the Year. The Frank and Bonnie Martin family, including children and grandchildren, gather for the Opportunity Village barbecue. The Martins have hosted the annual party for several years at their Bitter Root Ranch. Photos by Marian Umhoefer. Bonnie Moore, from left, David Ashley, Claudine Williams, honorary hostess "Miss Kitty" Rodman, Susan Sawyer, Kelly Sawyer and Sahnnon Brockman attend the 14th annual Miss Kitty's Jeans to Jewels fundraiser for Opportunity Village on Saturday. Reid Hamilton, from left, Mary Murphy, Thomas Schoeman and Susan Schoeman sample the barbecue menu. Linda Smith, standing from left, Kitty Rodman, Sen. John Ensign, Bonnie Martin, Frank Martin, Ed Guthrie and, in front, Heidi Foley and Thomas A. Thomas gather Saturday during the 14th annual Opportunity Village fundraiser. Bob Brown, left, and his wife, Malinda, right, attend the Opportunity Village fundraiser with relatives and their children. The party took place Saturday at the Bitter Root Ranch. Six-year-old rope artist Tomas Garcilazo entertains guests in the new horse arena at the Bitter Root Ranch Saturday during a fundraiser for Opportunity Village.

If you are a foodie, you would have sworn you'd died and gone to heaven -- gourmogul heaven, that is, as the third annual World Gourmet Summit moved into town Sept. 6-9.

Kicking off with the master chef's dinner in Henderson at Opus Too on the campus of the Culinary Institute of Las Vegas, the summit featured professional panels, grand tastings and elegant dinners to honor new and respected members of the epicurean world family.

The crowning events of the four-day series began Sept. 8 with the induction of two members into the 2006 World Gourmet Club Hall of Fame: Jesse Sartain of the American Academy of Taste and Alain Vavro, a designer from Lyon, France.

The next night at Bally's, the local buzz rose to a crescendo as Las Vegas' own celebrity chef Gustav Mauler took home the prestigious Restaurateur of the Year trophy for 2006.

A native of Austria, Mauler is president and chief executive officer of Gustav International, a restaurant, hospitality, management and consulting company, and owner of Spiedini, Gustav's Catering and Gustav's Cigar Bar in the JW Marriott and Sazio in The Orleans.

"I am extremely honored to be presented with an award of such distinction, from such a prestigious international organization," said Mauler. "To be recognized not only for my culinary exploits but also for my educational programs and industry involvement means so much to me professionally."

And if great food and wine and a handful of awards wasn't enough, gnaw on this -- the World Gourmet Summit raised money for local food and beverage students attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Community College of Southern Nevada. How's that for a sweet dessert!

Opportunity Village: Seldom, in fact, never is there a discouraging word heard around Opportunity Village, where helping intellectually disabled residents and their families lead normal and productive lives is the order of the day, every day, whether the skies are cloudy or not.

As the lyrics to that famous anthem floated on the air above the Bitter Root Ranch on Saturday, more than 1,000 supporters of the agency settled in for a night of Western fun at the 14th annual "Miss Kitty's Jeans to Jewels" barbecue.

Opportunity Village Foundation Board President Frank Martin and his wife, Bonnie, have been welcoming guests to their home for years, watching the event grow exponentially as more people have moved into the Las Vegas Valley, boosting the need for services at Opportunity Village.

Once past the welcome wagon, guests were treated to trick roping and equestrian demonstrations, a margarita bar hosted by Border Grill, a hosted beer and wine bar, a chili station and music by Las Vegas' own Wolf Creek.

For those keen on a bargain, a silent auction featured items such as signed and framed CDs by country superstars Kenny Chesney and Sara Evans, Western-themed bronzes, a National Finals Rodeo ticket package, collectible dolls and a near full-size hand-carved teak motorcycle, among other items.

When sundown signaled the chow line, three buffet stations presented by Station Casinos poured on enough barbecued chicken and ribs, corn on the cob, salads, cornbread, baked beans and desserts to choke a sturdy cowpoke.

In addition to celebrating the success of Opportunity Village, the annual event served to announce the organization's next phase of development: an ambitious new campus at the Beltway and Tropicana Avenue. To date, the organization is more than halfway to raising the $33 million needed to construct the center and fund the planned endowments.

Along the way, gracious statements by Martin and Miss Kitty (Rodman), as well as others responsible for bringing the evening together, were punctuated by a check presentation by Honorary Dinner Chairman Sen. John Ensign, R.-Nev., to Miss Kitty. The $15,000 gift was on behalf of Ensign's A Hand Up foundation, which supports Nevada charities that help the physically challenged.

But the evening belonged to the clients, those 3,000-plus people employed by Opportunity Village who have demonstrated time and again that they are no different from the rest of the community. In fact, according to client Heidi Foley, the only difference between her peers and everybody else is that, "They live for today. And I think it's something we could all learn from."