Peter Smith vs. Barry Koslow, March 2nd

[cjsadler]

L'Academie is doing another "Chef's Challenge"-- an Iron Chef style showdown. This year defending champ Pete Smith of PS7 faces challenger Barry Koslow of Mendocino Grill. March 2nd. $95 (goes to scholarships).

[mojoman]

I bought tickets. Anyone else going? Anyone been before?

[mojoman]

I went. I saw. I ate.

This event occurred last night. In the end, I feel ambivalent. I probably wouldn't go again although it was reasonably fun. It is for a great cause and I applaud Chef Dionot for doing it.

The event is $95/person and benefits LAC's scholarship fund.

It takes place in three rooms: LAC's industrial kitchen (where you stand, chat with other attendees, and watch the chefs), a classroom where the judging takes place, and a large room with steam tables (where you get your food). I will cover aspects of chef interaction/watching the cooking, watching the judging, the food served to the proletariat, and other (raffle).

The chefs (Pete Smith and Barry Koslow) are introduced as were the judges (Bonnie Benwick of the WaPo, Amy Brandwein formerly of Bebo, Ethan McKee of Rock Creek, and Shannon Overmiller of the Majestic). They randomly selected a guest judge from the audience. Those were the only people who got to eat the "competition food."

The general rules are that secret ingredients are announced (the competitors were pre-advised of three possibilities for each) and the competitors have to complete each of three courses on schedule. The secret ingredients were crawfish, calves liver, and passionfruit.

Chef interaction/watching cooking:

They set up the kitchen into two prep areas and a common range/oven/refrigerated area. We got to see the chefs briefing their assistants (one from their resto, one a student at LAC). You're not allowed to ask the chefs questions but, if you kind of throw things out there, they will generally respond. Francois Dionot takes questions from the crowd and asks them over a microphone. Pete Smith's side was very busy, you'll find out why later. Barry's side was fairly calm and cool. So, for the most part, you can stand around, chat with the crowd, and watch. The judges were all very cool. They were all willing to talk to the public and answer questions. I had a fairly long chat with Bonnie, who was a lot of fun to talk to.

Watching the judging

I'm a food nerd but not a Black Belt Nerd so I didn't take any notes, nor did I get to eat the food. So, I only remember some of the elements from the plates.

Generally, Pete Smith went with the intricate plating and more versions of the ingredient on a single course.

First Course:

PS - Crawfish broth, crawfish custard, crawfish dumpling (Man, PS can make a dumpling better and faster than an old Chinese lady in a dim sum joint), I'm not sure what else. IIRC, there were five preps of crawfish.

BK - Crawfish/sweet potato ravioli in a simple butter/bacon sauce with some whole, unshelled crawdads.

The judges preferred Pete's dish; most of the judges thought the crawfish flavor was too weak in the rav and that the rav was underdone. The judges tended toward verbosity; Francois had to bring them back to the schedule at times.

Second Course:

PS - Cut his liver into thinnish strips and, it looked to me, pan fried them. He also made a foie gras mousse that most of the judges really dug. I'm sure there were other elements but when I can't see the dish that well or eat it, it's hard for me to remember.

BK - Butchered the liver into a thickish chunk. It looked to me that he put a hard sear on one side and crusted it with some kinda mustard coating. I don't remember what his sides were.

It seemed to me that Barry's dish was the riskier; for some people the liver was underdone and some commented that the thick chunk did not have enough surface area that was really cooked. Pete won this round but less convincingly.

Third Course:

Regarding the schedule, we were a little behind here; it went fast.

PS - Honestly, I couldn't tell what he did and I didn't look at the whiteboard where someone had written the menu. Again, it looked like a trio of desserts. I saw them making a phyllo tuille so, I think there was some kind of panna cotta ish element.

BK - Made a tart consisting of (apparently an excellent tasting) chocolate shell and a passionfruit filling. The judges dug this.

The judges felt that one of PS' elements was not sweet enough. People generally liked BK's dessert. All the judges liked the way the chefs used the seeds.

The food provided:

They had bottomless wine (a cheap chardonnay and merlot), OJ, and water. While the first course was being prepped, they served canapes (prosiutto/melon salad, blue cheese mousse, goat cheese mousse, and baccala croquettes). Meh.

For the main, they had an eclectic buffet of duck pate on croute, beef flamande, a nice potato gratin, turkey lasagna, and pad thai. Apparently Chefs Smith and Koslow had provided recipes for a monkfish and rabbit dish. Those were the best dishes but neither were delish. The other food was average to meh.

The dessert was the best aspect of the food. They did a mousse cake with a layer of raspberry and chocolate which was light and delicious.

Other:

They have a raffle to benefit the school's scholarship fund and Chef Dionot offered some very nice prizes. Everyone who won seemed very pleased with their prizes.

Overall Assessment:

It was a fun night. You got to hobnob a little with the chefs, eat some OK food, and contribute to a worthy cause.

[MarkS]

I went and like all events there, it was good. When you consider the food, entertainment and fun factor it was a great deal for the price. Sure the food they served us was not amazing but it was very good and some of it was amazing. Watching the chefs work was sweet, I did pick up a few techniques just watching.

Peter Smith was amazing. He worked hard and fast which showed in both his dishes and the sweat pouring from him. This was his 4th consecutive win.