The humidity that taunted the metropolitan area with a semipromise of rain surrendered to cooling winds by early evening Thursday as five Denver chefs took on five of their Boulder counterparts in a fun-and-
food-filled “Flatiron Chef” competition.
The culinary throwdown, which attracted more than 200 spectators, filled the spacious pavilion at the Omni Interlocken Resort, situated, appropriately, almost midway between the two cities.
Competitors from Denver were led by team captain Frank Bonanno, Mizuna; Elise Wiggins, Panzano; Rebecca Weitzman, Cafe Star; Timothy Opiel, formerly of Fourth Story; Eric Roeder, former of Bistro Vendome; and Tyler Wiard, Elway’s.
Boulder’s team was headed by Will Chenworth, who left his job as sous chef at Flagstaff House to become executive chef at Meritage, the Omni’s flagship restaurant; Hosea Rosenberg, Jax Fish House; Corey Buck, John’s; Matt Jansen, Mateo Restaurant Provençal; Daniel Cofrades, Trattoria on Pearl and Cameron Grant, Laudisio.
The team with the most audience votes will do food battle in August with the Western Slope’s best chefs. Both teams were assisted by students from the Art Institute of Denver.
As teams set up for their 60- minute cookoff, guests who paid $100 a pop cruised stations serving generous portions of foie gras (served with a made- to-order Cosmopolitan), Colorado lamb and cheeses (accompanied by a fresh peach martini) and refreshing gazpacho. Ingredients available in advance included delicate white asparagus, baby cauliflower, squash, fennel and zucchini; purple green beans, fiddlehead ferns, lemongrass, Japanese eggplant, heirloom fingerling potatoes; heirloom tomatoes and a variety of mushrooms.
And then, the moment all had waited for: the arrival of the secret ingredient, two whole sushi-grade ahi tuna, weighing 125 pounds each – head, unseeing eyes and all.
The scramble to butcher the monster fish was on, sharp knives breaking down the loin for medallions to be served in hastily crafted but tasty sauces. Viking ranges, set up for outdoor cooking, cranked up. Sear, stir, boil, chop, dice.
As each team worked feverishly, diners roamed the periphery and watched.
Helen Guarneri and Bill Sobesky of Denver came with Bill and Nancy Sandbrook, friends from Boulder who had attended previous cookoffs between Boulder chefs.
“It’s really fun to be able to talk to chefs and have them talk to you, smile and share tips”, Guarneri said as she picked up a pale yellow oval object that she couldn’t identify. “Seeing the (“Iron Chef”) television show, then seeing it in real life is a foodie dream.”
She carried the unidentified yellow object to the Boulder team. No one knew what it was. She then asked the Denver team. Bonanno whacked it in half, took a bite. He didn’t know either, but to him it tasted like eggplant.
Guarneri took a bite too. She thought maybe some kind of melon. It turned out to be an Asian eggplant.
Boulder-born Alison Willam still was swooning over the abundance of foie gras. Willam, a recent med school graduate, was back in Colorado for her internship in emergency medicine at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
“My sister, Angela, is engaged to Will, and they invited me,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much foie gras at once. And doubt I’ll be seeing it much once I start work.”
The competition was the brainchild of Paul Eckert, Omni food and beverage manager. “It’s a way to involve the public in an event that is fun for everyone, and the money goes to a good cause,” he said.
The event raised $10,000 for Johnson and Wales University.
Paired with a 2004 Australian d’Arenberg Hermit Crab Viognier/Marsanne, their presentation edged out Denver’s elegantly simple seared tuna with butter-braised heirloom potatoes finished with white and green asparagus in a sauce of king trupet mushroom demiglace and sherry. The dish was finished with a charred heirloom tomato relish.
The Denver team went with a 2004 Terredora Greco di Tufo from Southern Italy. The team took it all in stride although, as Weitzman noted, nobody likes to lose.
“Obviously we wanted to win, that’s why you enter a competition. But I was just happy to be part of it. Our team was great, and it was fun to work with all those different chefs,” Weitzman said. We were just coming from a completely different place than the other team.”
Staff writer Ellen Sweets can be reached at 303-820-1284 or esweets@denverpost.com.
More online: The Boulder team’s winning recipe, Tuna and Purple Thai Rice. denverpost.com/food
