My First Culinary Fight Club

Outside the Hard Rock Cafe parking lot, foodies gathered in anticipation of the culinary fight club battle that was about to take place.  Three chefs prepared for an evening of food warfare.  Home chef, Jedediah Swartz came to clash with veteran chefs Philip Pomykalski and Turon Cummings.  Philip is the executive chef for Hard Rock Cafe.  Turon is the owner of Creative Concepts LLC.  This was a one hour tailgate crusade.  Food was not allowed to be prepped beforehand, so that meant all the cutting, seasoning, and cooking had to be done within the 60 minute time limit.  Talk about pressure.

As the chefs prepared their savory creations, guests enjoyed music and cocktails with a two hour open bar.  It was a very sociable crowd with raffles for Whirlyball gift certificates and Segway tours.  I also had a chance to chat with one of the event sponsors, Bigfat’s Hot Sauce.  Jeremy Walsh has definitely upgraded the hot sauce game with a variety of flavors that can be found on his website at http://www.bigfatshotsauce.com.  A gloomy evening sky held off so visitors would be able to finish enjoying the edible skirmish.  Proceeds for the event benefited Fight2Feed.

Chefs were judged on presentation, taste, and creativity.  I take my hat off to all three contestants for prepping, cooking, and plating a meal on a grill in an hour.  It is one thing to cook in the comfort of your own home, but entirely different when left out to the elements.  They also had to make enough samples for 100 people.  It was all about flavor, and on this night, the victory went to Turon Cummings.  I enjoyed all three dishes and slight changes could have pushed the vote another way.  In the end, it is all about the final product after the hour is done.  I am looking forward to my next culinary fight club.  Who knows, I might even enter one………………….