Pro ChefAMe #1, Philadelphia

We weren't sure what to expect with the Open ChefAMe event in August cooked by amateur chefs, and we were so pleasantly surprised, that we were really looking forward to the Pro ChefAme event in September, billed as "a nine course no holds barred competition of culinary mastery." It was to feature 3 professional chefs cooking with 3 set ingredients Iron Chef style.

Interestingly, I think we all agreed that we actually liked the amateur event better. Not that I'm complaining about this one. Still the best deal in town - $40 for 9 courses with beer pairings! And still a lot of fun, which I think has a lot to do with founder Jesse and his co-organizers. Such a great idea, I wish I had thought of it myself.

But anyway, back to the food. The event was held at Tavern 17 in the Warwick Hotel, and the 3 contestants were all chefs there: Chef Cathy Chambers, Executive Chef Ben Young, and Sous Chef Christopher Spellman. The 3 ingredients were scallops, chicken, and beef tenderloin. And there were 3 judges sharing their reviews and scores to the crowd.

First round: Chef Cathy made cajun crusted sea scallops with warm peach salsa and rainbow micro greens salad. The portion was huge - 2 fat scallops. It was good but not that exciting, plus more than one of us had a bit of grit. Mine was so big I chipped a tooth on it!

Executive Chef Ben made a scallop ceviche with tri-pepper and daikon salad with tobiko and wasabi vinaigrette and pink sea salt (pictured top). After the chipped tooth, I was a little wary crunching on pink salt - I could have done without it. But everything else on the plate was delicious! Wonderful flavors, melt-in-your-mouth scallop.

Sous chef Christopher rounded out the dishes with sauteed scallops filled with pesto atop creamy polenta and rosemary tomato consomme. Reading the menu, I thought this would be awesome - I imagined juicy bursting sacs. But sadly, not enough pesto, scallops a little overcooked, and tomato soup base was just weird. (and sorry, forgot to take a picture). I also didn't keep track of the judges scores, but

Our scores were: Cathy 3, Ben 4.5, and Christopher 2.

Next round, chicken. Chef Cathy delivered grilled petite chicken breast with sweet potato gnocchi with roasted apples and a tarragon cream sauce. Again, this was solid - chicken was perfectly cooked and moist, gnocchi had great flavor but maybe just a touch rubbery, and the cream sauce was yummy. Very satisfying, ate the whole plate up, but again, we just weren't wowed by anything surprising. Still it definitely ended up being the best of the chicken dishes.

Chef Ben served up Caribbean Jerk Roulade with rainbow chard and country bacon polenta. This was disappointing - chicken was ok, but didn't have a whole lot of flavor. The polenta saved the dish, but then again, how can you screw up polenta with bacon? Roasted corn added a nice textural counterpoint to the creaminess.

Third chicken dish was Chef Christopher's Macadamia Mango Chicken with rice pilaf. The judges of the event called this one "banquet food" - ouch, that hurts - but I have to agree. Chicken was dry, rice was bland.

Our scores: Cathy 3, Ben 3, Christopher 2

Last round, beef tenderloin. This time, Cathy's delivered -- herb-rubbed tenderloin medallions with grilled corn and caramelized onion potato galette with roasted yellow and red tomato compote. Even though totally stuffed, I had to eat this perfectly medium-rare piece of meat, and the potato cake was yummy.

And again, Chef Ben disappointed. His pan seared spicy tenderloin with roasted tomato risotto cake, pomegranate glace and onion frissee sounded interesting, but was just "eh" (despite the fancy garnish).




And Chef Christopher's last dish didn't help his score - beef tenderloin with candied mushrooms and brandy cream sauce. 1000yregg liked the sauce, but I found its sweetness cloying. And neither Ben nor Chris cooked the meat as well as Cathy.

Beef score: Cathy 4.25, Ben 2, Christopher 2

So our total tally was Cathy 10.25, Ben 9.5, Christopher 6. Cathy also won based on the judges scores. We didn't always agree with their reviews -- none of them liked our favorite dish, Ben's scallop dish. They did have a point that it wasn't really ceviche, but if he had named it something else, maybe they wouldn't have quibbled. One judge in particular got on 1000yregg's nerves, so badly he had a tweet about it while we were there...

We were absolutely stuffed by the end of this. To be honest, I was actually glad that I didn't like some of the later dishes - and could happily not eat them. Next ChefAMe event is in November - can't wait!

Open ChefAMe Event #5

Last month, 1000yregg and I went to the Open ChefAMe event in Philly. I love the concept -- it's an open mic night for chefs, giving anyone who's brave enough the chance to cook in a professional kitchen, for a restaurant full of diners.


Held on an off-night in a local restaurant -- in this case, Ava, on 4th Street near South -- it's the chance to taste something totally unexpected. It's also one of the best deals in town. For $35, we were treated to a 6 course meal, made by 2 chefs -- one a former pro, Ali Waks, and the other a super home cook, Diana Martignoni.

We started with an amuse made by Ali -- One Fig Two Ways: Canape of Chicken Liver Pistachio Pate with Brulee Fig, and Crostini Fig Salsa, Begamot Ricotta, wth Chive Blossoms. This was my favorite dish of the whole meal, especially the Brulee fig. The caramelized fig was sweet and delicious, I'm a sucker for chicken liver and the pistachio in the pate added just that hint of complexity. With this as our first bite, we were off to a really promising start!

Next was the salad course - made by Diana - Organic Spring Greens with Gorgonzola, Carmelized Spicy Pecans, and Dried Cranberries, served with a Raspberry/Orange Muscat Vinaigrette.

The soup course that followed was by Ali - Essence of Jersey Corn Soup w/ Truffled Wildflour Brioche, Heirloom Tomatoes & Guanciale. We looked up what "guanciale" was on 1000yregg's iPhone, and discovered it was an unsmoked Italian bacon prepared with pig's jowl or cheeks. Pig lovers that we are, we were looking forward to that, but to be honest, I couldn't discern any meat in the dish at all. My only other complaint was that I wish the soup had been served in a deeper soup bowl so that it would have stayed hot. But it was clean and fresh - a nice change to more traditional creamy corn soups.

Then we were treated to not one, but 2 main courses. Diana's main course was Chicken Enchiladas with velvet chili sauce, fresh pico de gallo, and cilantro/scallion pesto. The chicken was moist and flavorful, the sauce was indeed velvety smooth -- all in all a very satisfying dish.

Ali's main was Smoked Coffee & Espresso Rubbed Hangar Steak, Roasted Happy Cat Farm Potatoes, Rainbow Chard w/ Garlic & Lemon Confit. I loved this - the coffee flavor was amazing, and both of us had steaks that were cooked a perfect medium rare. Everything on the plate was delicious - from the chard to sauce to the lemon.

Finally was dessert - Local Peaches, Vanilla Gelato, Cherry Balsamic Gastrique, Lavender Pistachio Biscotti, served with Earl Gray Lavender Chocolates. This was truly unexpected -- ok, the peach was good (probably should have been served with a knife, as the only way to eat it really was to spear the whole thing with your fork and just bite off it), but what was really amazing was the combination of the vanilla gelato and the cherry balsamic gastrique. Now, I love my balsamic, but I never would have thought of having it on ice cream - but put together with the gelato, it tasted like it could have been dark chocolate. Amazing!

What really struck me during this meal was the difference between the former pro and the amateur. Don't get me wrong, Diana was a great cook - if she had me over to dinner and served me the salad and those enchiladas, I would have been very happy. But Ali brought just that extra imagination to the table - combinations of flavors I never would have thought of. The thoughtfulness that went into the menu, weaving ingredients/flavors from dish to dish like pistachio, lemon, bergamot, lavender. As someone who fancies herself a pretty good home cook, I bow in humble obeisance. I'm way to scared to try it myself!