Iron Chef Competition Shows Off Local Culinary Talent

By Amber Lester Saturday, March 06, 2010

Chocolate-covered rum balls. Sliced duck on a bed of red quinoa. Chocolate ganache martinis with hints of Grand Marnier. Smoked gouda grits with shrimp. Is your mouth watering yet?

That was just some of the cuisine sampled by locals and tourists at the Williamsburg Area Restaurant Association’s first public wine and food expo on Thursday night. Around 400 people packed into the Virginia Room at the Williamsburg Lodge to watch a cooking competition inspired by Food Network’s “Iron Chef.”

While attendees sampled goodies like camembert cheese from The Cheese Shop, nine local chefs assembled into teams to tackle the Iron Chef challenge. The teams were supplied with a pantry of cooking staples – veggies, olive oil, cream, etc. – and three “mystery” baskets. Each basket contained the ingredients the teams were supposed to use to create their dishes; the teams were required to use at least five of the 10 provided ingredients.

The mystery baskets included wild boar meat, black sea bass, a whole chicken, stone-ground grits, risotto, exotic mushrooms, broccolini, crimson lentils, black quinoa, red quinoa and garam masala spice. The teams’ dishes had to include two of the proteins.

The teams were tasked with making an appetizer and a complementary entrée for each of the five judges within an hour, using hot plates to heat the food. The judges evaluated the food based on technique, flavor and presentation. The judges included Hampton Roads Magazine’s Patrick Evans-Hylton, the Daily Press’ David Nicholson, chef Peter Stine of the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront Hotel, Mike Morphew of the Culinary Institute of Virginia and David Black, a surprise judge chosen from the audience.

To avoid cheating, the teams’ start times were staggered. The “blue” team of Williamsburg Inn chef Scott Watson, Great Wolf Lodge chef Tim Reardon and Riverwalk Restaurant chef Cynthia Schuette came out and after seemingly seconds, agreed on a menu and got to work. The audience was able to watch the cooking action on a big screen behind the chefs as a cameraman filmed their hands chopping onions and trimming the boar meat.

After 20 minutes, the “white” team emerged and started their dishes, followed by the “black” team. Audience members sat watching the screen with rapt attention. Meanwhile, the hosts, WARA Executive Director Mickey Chohany and Williamsburg Lodge Chef Rhys Lewis, were bouncing from table to table narrating the action: “We’ve got shallots simmering in thyme with some olive oil … Over here we’ve got some fingerling potatoes boiling … Here we’re cooking the broccolini.”

The chefs’ personalities came out as they cooked; the black team’s Denis Callinan, of William and Mary Catering, talked to the people in the front row as he worked, while teammate Bobby Margeras, of Black Angus Grille, methodically cut up a chicken. Early on, the blue team seemed to make efficient use of time. “Blue team has their act together,” Chohany said. “We should have given them four courses!”

Each team finished up their hour in a frantic dash to properly plate the food with drizzles of sauce and sprinkles of herbs. The black team failed to complete one of its dishes for all the judges before time ran out. The judges chewed thoughtfully as members of the audience made their bets, based on what they had seen, but not tasted. The vote was unanimous: the blue team won.

They won some commemorative platters, but more importantly, they received attention from an audience of potential customers. Team member Tim Reardon said he hoped the win would entice more people to visit Great Wolf Lodge. “I would love for people to realize we don’t only cater to kids,” he said, still sweating from the heat of the makeshift “kitchen.”

WARA President Dean Canavos said the goal of the event was to showcase the talent and artistry of area chefs. “The public doesn’t know what we have to offer,” he said. “With this, we were aiming to hit two markets: locals in the area and through the Hotel Motel Association, we promoted it to guests.” He said that for trained chefs, this was the “opportunity of the year” to show how far they could stretch the public’s collective imagination of what food in Williamsburg can be.

WARA is already planning to host the event next year and hopes to also host an event including more of its members.