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Blogs / On the Table / July 2009 / Wow! What a cookoff!

Wow! What a cookoff!

Michael and Adam vs. Michael and Adam.

Michael Richey and Adam Findlay from Pago competing against Michael Webb and Adam Kreisel of Tipica. All buddies, all terrific cooks, and all being cheered on by their respective owners, Scott Evans and Tony Caputo.

Their temporary kitchens were set up in the middle of the Downtown Farmers Market at Pioneer Park this morning, and the contest was the culiminating event of Independents' Week, sponsored by Local First Utah. Their surprise larders were supplied by Farmers Market vendors.

Christy Paulson of Slow Food Utah and I were co-judges; the chefs prepared an appetizer based on ground lamb and an entree of beef tenderloin.

But they didn't know any of that when they arrived; part of the contest was to see how creative they could be on the spur of the moment.

Here's what they came up with:

Appetizer:

Pago:  Ground lamb meatballs with minced fava beans and minced squash with cherry drizzle.

Tipica: Ground lamb and fava bean-stuffed kale leaves topped with a salad of purple carrots and their tops sauteed in the lamb fat, sprinkled with feta.

Main Course:

Pago: Sliced beef tenderloin with sauteed cherries, squash and carrots.

Tipica: Tenderloin two ways: tartare and flash-cooked slices on an herbed vegetable-stuffed egg white omelet with cherry gastrique

Frankly, the contest was weighted for originality, and it was sheer imagination that took the Tipica team over the top. Their appetizer was a little salty, Pago's needed salt, and Christy and I scored those courses absolutely evenly. And the main courses were equally delicious. The idea to serve part of the beef raw and the addition of the crepe-like omelet, which filled in for the usual starch, is what edged Tipica ahead.

That was a daring idea, adding techniques and prep time to the preparation, but what can I say? Tipica won via chutzpah.