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Fundraiser brings out restaurants' very best
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Published: May 6, 2009
I got a hefty taste of Taste of the Town on Saturday.
Actually, I got dozens of tastes from 20 restaurants and other food businesses that donated food for the Taste of the Town fundraiser for Family Services, Inc.
The fundraiser went on hiatus last year while Family Services moved to a new home at 1200 South Broad St. But it was back this year at the Benton Convention Center and again timed to include a live broadcast of the Kentucky Derby.
About 1,000 people attended, raising about $30,000 dollars for Family Services.
Most restaurant booths had at least two different foods. And several chefs went all out on quantity and quality.
Someone's got to do it
Susan Wiles, a staff member at Family Services, asked me to help judge the Chef's Choice award for Taste of the Town, along with Al Romano, a culinary instructor at Guilford Technical Community College, and Derrick McCorkle, the executive chef at Winston-Salem State University.
This was a lot of food to sample, but it was worth the effort. I was particularly impressed that a couple of places made food to match the Derby theme. The Zevely House turned out a version of a burgoo, a Kentucky stew that included beef, pork and turkey. Sweet Potatoes restaurant made bite-size mint julep chocolate pecan tarts with a blast of creme de menthe. Blue Ridge Ice Cream had an ice-cream reminiscent of the popular chocolate-nut Kentucky pies, as well as a refreshing mint julep sorbet. I took a tip from chef Stephanie Tyson of Sweet Potatoes and put a little of that sorbet on one of her tarts for a delicious combo dessert.
Good stuff
Other tasty bites included Foothills Brewing Co.'s panini-style Cuban pork and ham sandwich. The Piedmont Club served a creative take on a fresh spring roll with pineapple mixed with cabbage and served with a peanut sauce. And Caffe Prada served a tangy pink-lemonade sorbet that was a great way for me to clear my palate.
After going around the room, McCorkle, Romano and I came to a consensus. Here are our Chef's Choice awards:
□ First place: Triad Community Kitchen, a chef-training program of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, beat out all the restaurants. It had a simple tomato bruschetta, slightly sweet with balsamic vinegar. It had half-slices of fried green tomato topped with Boursin cheese and crumbled bacon that was as delicious as it was creative. For dessert, it made what looked like a standard peach cobbler with a few strawberries. The surprising twist was jalapeno that blended surprisingly well with the peaches and gave the cobbler a subtle hint of fiery heat.
□ Second place: W-S Prime, the restaurant of the Marriot Hotel downtown, dispelled stereotypes about hotel food with a solid offering of shrimp cakes with a shrimp etouffee sauce; a killer "Three Little Pigs" sandwich of ham, bacon and breaded pork with Swiss cheese; and a bananas Foster bread pudding with caramel sauce.
□ Third place: Noma, the latest restaurant from the owners of Sixth and Vine, had the simplest of dishes: a small burger or slider. Noma also served a three-cheese mac and cheese. But it was the quality of the super-tasty, grassfed beef served pink and juicy inside that was not easily forgotten.
Taste of the Town also had People's Choice awards. People were asked to vote for best booth design, best non-dessert, best dessert and best all-around booth.
Here are the results for the People's Choice awards:
Best Booth Design
□ First: Sociale Gourmet.
□ Second: Fourth Street Filling Station.
□ Third: Village Tavern.
Best Non-Dessert
□ First: Village Tavern.
□ Second: Jimmy's Seafood & Oyster Bar.
□ Third: Noma.
Best Dessert
□ First: Village Tavern.
□ Second: Heavenly Cheesecake.
□ Third: Caffe Prada.
Best All-Around
□ First: Village Tavern.
□ Second: Jimmy's Seafood & Oyster Bar.
□ Third: Noma.
I got even more tastes of Taste of the Town before the event. On Thursday, Jamie Hatter, a server at Fourth Street Filling Station, and I judged a Kentucky Pie contest that Family Services held.
Contestants were asked to submit any kind of chocolate-nut pie. Unfortunately, only six home bakers entered the contest. But that didn't make it any less fun to judge.
The pies were judged on appearance, crust, filling and overall flavor.
Our favorite was the Triple Chip Race Pie submitted by Jim Gilbert, which had chocolate, butterscotch and white-chocolate chips. This had a nice flaky crust and a tasty filling that held together well. The filling also had pecans and a bit of rum.
Gilbert received a $50 Harris Teeter gift card, Taste of the Town apron and a medal. His pie will be featured at Fourth Street Filling Station for the next two weeks.
The recipe for Triple Chip Race Pie is available at www.journalnow.com/dishingitout.
■ Michael Hastings, the Journal's Food editor, can be contacted by phone at 727-7394, e-mail at mhastings@wsjournal.com, or mail at c/o Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. His most recent columns can be read on our Web site at www.journalnow.com.
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