Where I Get to Taste Fine Cuisine for Fun

I was honored to be one of three judges at the inaugural Nickel City Chef, a local variant of the popular “Iron Chef” series on Food Network. Today’s competition pit Krista van Wagner from Curly’s against Brian Mietus from Bacchus. Curly’s is known for eclectic dishes, while Bacchus is more of an American bistro.

It was a sellout crowd, and Seabar’s Andrzejewski was not only the color commentator, but also catered the event for the spectators. Bert Gambini was the MC, who did a bang-up job introducing the players to the crowd, explaining the philosophy behind Nickel City Chef, and otherwise keeping things moving.

It being the first-ever episode of Nickel City Chef, it was inevitable that there would be a couple of issues with the production. Mics cutting out and feeding back are nothing – during the competition, no one could really see what was happening in the kitchens, and during the tasting, many people couldn’t see what we were tasting. That’s easily fixable with a couple of extra cameras and some long cables. The absolutely gorgeous “kitchen stadium” that Artisan Kitchen & Bath set up in its Amherst Street warehouse has flat-screen TVs throughout. Also, the first 15 minutes or so of the battle don’t lend themselves to much commentary from the hosts because that’s a critical period of time for the chefs, neither of which wanted to give much away to the other side at that point. Instead, the secret ingredient should be revealed, the chefs told to begin, and then the hosts can do the introductions.

Both chefs prepared food that was to die for, and they proved that they are as good as any chef anywhere. They took one hour to make something extraordinary to showcase a pretty pedestrian secret ingredient.

I am proud to have been a part of this not only because I’m tangentially involved in the local restaurant scene, or because I’m a big guy who loves to eat, but because Buffalo’s restaurants and chefs are often overlooked by too many local people. This is a great and fun experiment, and with a couple of production changes, should air on local television once per month. Seriously good show by everyone involved, and a special thanks to fellow judges comedian Kristen Becker and Spiel the Wine’s Kevin LoVullo.

(A longer version of this, which includes my detailed description of the dishes each judge served will appear in an upcoming issue of the Buffalo Spree. All of this year’s Nickel City Chefs are now sold out. I dare say this is something that lends itself especially to wintertime, as a great antidote to cabin fever).