Who Brings a Food Blogger to a Knife Fight?

I totally meant to take more photos but, man, I was having so much fun hanging out with my friends and, well, being a judge that my photo duties kind of took a back seat.

So...apologies for the lack of images.

It happens.

High on fire

The Tucson Knife Fight began in September of this year with 16 local chefs competing for a bodacious trophy, $400 cash and total bragging rights. Think of this as a very long episode of Tucson Chopped where each chef brings a secret ingredient to scare off the other while another unknown ingredient is introduced right before the competition. I was lucky enough to be a judge on the 'final 4' slot where two chefs brought the same secret ingredient (duck hearts), which was pretty funny, and the secret secret ingredient was jackfruit, basically a bigger, spikier version of a mango, and totally sticky too. The competition was really close that night but from the ashes of the semi-finals rose two local kitchen heavyweights to make it to the finale:

Gary Hickey of Charro Steak and Tim Marshall from The Parish.

Oh man...you can cut the tension with a knife.

Huh. I just saw what I did there...

The view from the judges table

Just like the final four the finale was held in the back patio at Martin Drug Co. on Congress. It's really a great space but unlike last time, this event was definitely bigger.

First thing I noticed were all of the flashy DJ lights and lasers and such. Looked like a rock concert or rave rather than a cook off. Plus there was a large screen projecting the action live on the side wall. Very cool. The stage was decidedly higher too putting contestants well above normal head level. They were going all out with this one. I was really impressed.

Not to mention the place was packed, like wall to wall people. So far this was going to be a night to remember...

Chef Mike holding the esteemed trophy

To start things off there was a cocktail competition, ironically enough, between bartenders from The Parish and Charro Steak. While this was going on folks continued to stream in as the two competing chefs began prepping for their big moment. It was at this time that I walked up to the stage to take a place at the judges table.

I was joined by Adam Lehrman from Tucson Foodie, Kate Selby of Edible Baja and, once again, Ben Caballero, executive chef for HUB, which Martin Drug Co. is a part of, whom I judged alongside with for the Final 4.

We were way up there and I kept having to make sure that I didn't slip and careen down the metal stairs because, honestly, we were all drinking and I didn't want to look like a total amateur chump in front of a full house.

But, as doing events such as this before, I began to feel cool so maybe taking a head plunge down would calm my ego just a tad.

Although I'm glad I didn't tumble. We were really high up and those stairs looked sharp.

Chef Gary in full action

Before we knew it the competition was underway. The unfortunate secret ingredient was taro root, which is a root vegetable and kind of tough to deal with. Another culinary monkey wrench was the use of Pate a Choux which is a fluffy dough usually used to make eclairs or beignets.

This is going to be tricky.

Huge cut of meat, cooked perfectly

With all of the lights flashing and host Matt Russell of On The Menu, Live! talking in his usual fast candor, when dishes started to arrive on the table I kind of couldn't hear, or see, what was in them (obviously taro root and Pate a Choux) although I do recall a gnocchi dish where the Pate a Choux stood in for the usual potato. The Pate a Choux was really soft but the sauce and other components were very tasty. I thought the dish worked fairly well.

For me, when I judge, its usually very close as far as scoring is concerned. Unless, of course, something blows my mind or something really sucks. Not going to give anything away but when I did the Margarita Competition there was one drink that was so foul that I gave it my first 1 out of 10. Ugh. It was gross and served warm. C'mon now.

Here though, my scoring was pretty darn close. That is until Gary Hickey brought out this pho platter that totally won me over. It was stunning. In the short amount of time that he had Gary pulled out one of the most flavorful dishes I have ever had in a culinary competition. Tim did great with a huge steak but the taro root was a bit buried. That was my only complaint.

After three or four dishes each we all had our fill, we tallied the votes and one winner was announced.

Who would it be?

This is going to be a close one.

Gnocchi out of Pate a Choux dough? Awesome!

And the winner was...

Gary Hickey of Charro Steak!

Tim gave a great performance and delivered delicious delights but Gary took the grand prize. That pho dish though. Ugh. So good.

Everything, all of it...so good.

Thanks again for letting me judge yet another amazing culinary competition and, hey!, keep 'em coming. If you need a food dork like me on your panel I am that guy.

Looking forward to the next big competition.

Bring it on!

Cheers...

And the winner is...

Eating, Drinking & Judging
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
Why is it still hot out...it's November!, 2017

Metal Influence:

IRON MAIDEN

"Flash of the Blade"

"Hey, Tucson Homeskillet, All Of The Food Action Is Downtown...How Come You Don't Write About It?"

When I moved to Tucson in early 2006 from San Francisco, downtown wasn't much of anything really. I mean, it had a few cool bars, a decent pizza place, The Grill which sold tater-tots and a venue where I spun Hard Rock and Heavy Metal tunes to a captive audience of no one. Honestly, downtown Tucson didn't do much for me and I rarely took the leap of cruising on over there, mainly because the parking sucked. Other than meeting the occasional pal for drinks or playing old Slayer and Motley Crue songs to an empty space, what's the point?

But then, in just the last few short years, something happened. An explosion it seemed, kind of out of nowhere, started slowly erupting downtown. Suddenly upscale bars, restaurants and brewpubs began spouting up everywhere and as a food guy, this made me pretty excited.

That is...until the Tucson Homeskillet made the way down there.

One of many places everyone insists we have to try, and after we did...*shrugs*

Don't get us wrong, we do love some fancy food now and then among chef driven eateries. The mastery of flavors and courses has always been a decadent delight. Heck, our Twitter feed and Instagram is basically just food from the delicate care yet well worn hands of chefs from all over the world. Do you not think we want to see and taste what Rene Redzepi is doing to inky cap mushrooms for his renown restaurant Noma? Or watch Magnus Nilsson perfectly cook huge sea scallops over burning juniper branches in the kitchen at his place, Faviken, in some remote outpost in Sweden? Or dream about the sausages April Bloomfield creates for her various eateries and then go hang out with her drinking a cold beer and talking about what cheese goes best with roasted beets?

(a good stinky goat cheese variety most likely...)

But, for whatever reason it may be, so far...the downtown food scene just isn't doing it for us right now.

Sure its amazing but just not our scene

Look, when the Tucson Homeskillet got revamped almost two years ago, after briefly contributing on another local food website, our goal was to focus on the hidden gems, the lil' out of the way places, the possibly questionable food trucks and dive bars with kitchens and overall funky mom and pops that dot this wide, dusty and chock full of possibilities desert city of ours. That's the food we like and that's the style we feel comfortable in.

Does that mean we should just write off all the higher end and "fancy" dining options here in Tucson? Of course not! But...here is the thing:

You've got so many other options, websites and publications as a go-to for what's the next big thing in upscale Tucson dining, why should our humble eat and drink blog try to muscle in on the big boys already established food writing territory?

Huh, when you put it that way, maybe we should.

We kind of prefer our ice cream from old drug stores and windowless vans

Thing is, at this point, the Tucson Homeskillet is just hitting its stride and it's going to take awhile for us to catch up to trusted and well rooted publications and websites. We don't get invited to soft openings to new eateries....yet. The email isn't blowed up with early notifications on what is being planned for that empty space that used to be a speakeasy now that some bigwig restauranteur from LA bought the place and is considering an artichoke and rum ripple concept. Or even getting press passes to food and booze events. We're just too DIY and small (yet well cooked) potatoes right now. But hopefully that'll change soon and the Homeskillet can hang out with the cool kids.

For now, though...we'll stick with the weirdos at table nine.

World of, well...I guess

It's not like we haven't tried to get into the downtown food action. In fact, just recently, we have taken tours of downtown in hopes that a restaurant or gastropub peaks our interest and we crack out of our rather un-hip shell. All of the menus looked...fine...but just not enough for us to break the bank and risk getting not great service (which we have heard about way too many times and that would bug the crap out of us). The over saturation of Tucson culinary chic in a fairly tight area, along with the parking situation, for the most part just keeps us on the lookout for a food cart with amazing fry bread tacos that no one has heard about or how delicious the Friday fish fry is at that bar that looks like should be condemned or even some crud hut that sells beads and dreamcatchers but also serves up some of the best pozole in town.

We even have friends that own places on Congress and more that even work in that area, so let this blurb here set as an apology for not hanging out as much as we'd like. We'll get down there again...someday. We promise.

Now, if we did get the invites and "comped" course meals, you better believe we will be there! Who wouldn't? When those opportunities arrive we will grab them by the apron and face dive into the food and let you know what we thought and how the event transpired. Even if we don't dress or look the part.

Is it cool to wear well scuffed old school SK8 Vans to a white linen multi-course tasting event? Hope so 'cause that's what we got...

Uh...no

Tucson is so rich with an amazing food culture which continues to grow and expand right before our eyes and tastebuds with uncharted culinary terrain yet to be discovered. For that reason alone, being a food blog and big eaters makes us chomp at the yummy bit as to what more is out there and what is in the works for the near and distant future. Downtown Tucson is fine for most but for the time being we will leave the food coverage there for the kids with the money and contacts. We really don't have the money right now. And our one contact can get us a free taco now and then. Not enough to be considered "big competition" at present. Is it? It's a pretty good taco.

But we can write good though...right? Us write good! Yay! Thanks for reading.

That's all. And we find the Hi-Fi Lounge rather terrifying. So many TVs. So....many...douchenozzles.

Sorry. But that's our story and we're sticking to it.

Have fun!

Didn't take this picture, don't know these people

Photo Uploads, Typing and Griping 
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
Last Day in March, 2016

Metal Influence:

TESTAMENT

"Apocalyptic City"