Fancy Pants Foodie

Foodie news, reviews and how-tos from Arkansas and beyond.

Arkansas Hospitality Conference a Food Lover’s Dream (PHOTOS)

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The Culinary Classic featured dishes with an “outer space” theme, including this lentil, scallop and polenta dish that was served to guests in tiny spheres.

 

This week, the Arkansas Hospitality Association held its annual Showcase & Convention event, which is a highlight of the year for many involved in all aspects of the hospitality industry.

But even for those outside of the industry, two events shine as a food lover’s dream: the Culinary Classic and the Iron Chef Arkansas competition.

The Culinary Classic, which was held Tuesday evening, is a ticketed event for public sampling. But before guests arrive, participating chefs send dishes anonymously to a panel of judges, who choose the best in appetizers, soups and salads, entrees, and desserts. This year’s winners are listed below. (Read a preview with more details about the Culinary Classic here, and see photos below.)

The next two days, the trade show floor buzzed with vendors of all kinds, but the foodies knew to head to the back of the room for the Iron Chef Arkansas stage. This live competition, much like the popular show Chopped, gives chefs a mystery ingredients basket in each round that must be used in the dishes. The chefs had 40 minutes per heat to create two plates—one for the judges, and another for winners of a silent auction held at the Culinary Classic. (Read more about Iron Chef Arkansas and the winner here on our sister site, arfoodjobs.com.)

Over four heats on Wednesday and two semi-final heats on Thursday, the original panel of eight Arkansas chefs boiled down to the last two: Casey Copeland of SO Restaurant in Little Rock and Justus Moll of River Grille Steakhouse in Bentonville. Moll took the win with his final dish.

Culinary Classic Winners:

Appetizer

1st – Adam Hanry of Camp Mitchell
2nd – Bonner Cameron of Bistro Catering and Gourmet Take-Away
3rd – Casey Copeland of SO Restaurant

Soup and Salad

1st – Javier Salcedo of Riverfront Steakhouse
2nd – Kamiya Merrick of At the Corner
3rd – Josh Marling of Southland Park Gaming & Racing

Entree

1st – Paul Frintrup of Country Club of Little Rock
2nd – Brandon Douglas of Green Leaf Grill
3rd – Pratik Mungre of Capital Hotel

Dessert

1st – Adam Hanry of Camp Mitchell
2nd – Paul Frintrup of Country Club of Little Rock
3rd – Jan Lewandowski of Pulaski Technical College

Best of Beef Award: Bonner Cameron of Bistro Catering and Gourmet Take-Away

Hiland Dairy Award: Paul Frintrup of Country Club of Little Rock

People’s Choice Award: Mario Torres of Marriott Little Rock

CULINARY CLASSIC PHOTOS

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IRON CHEF PHOTOS

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Culinary Classic Offers a Taste From Arkansas’ Best Chefs (GIVEAWAY)

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Dessert offering from the 2015 Culinary Classic

Dessert offering from the 2015 Culinary Classic. Image courtesy of Arkansas Hospitality Association.

GIVEAWAY: Share this post and comment below by noon on Monday, Sept. 12 with why you’d like to attend this year’s Culinary Classic. We’ll choose one comment to receive two complimentary tickets to the event, a $90 value. UPDATE: Kim H. won the tickets and will be attending the Culinary Classic! Congrats and have a great time!

Diners looking for a taste of Arkansas’ best need look no further than this Tuesday’s Culinary Classic, a competition and tasting event hosted by the Arkansas Hospitality Association. Tickets are $45, a bargain for the opportunity to sample the work of Arkansas’ finest established and up-and-coming chefs.

Guests at the Culinary Classic enjoy small plates from each of the participating chefs, beer and wine tastings, and admission to the after party at the lobby bar of the adjacent Little Rock Marriott Hotel. The tasting plates are small portions of the dishes each chef submitted to a panel of judges earlier in the evening, competing for cash prizes in the areas of appetizer, soup/salad, entree and dessert.

During the public event, guests may also vote for their favorite dish; the People’s Choice award is announced later that evening along with the formally judged dishes. The event also includes a silent auction in which guests can bid for hospitality-related items, from food gift cards to vacation stays. All funds raised go toward college scholarships for Arkansas hospitality students.

Sweetbreads and pork belly by Chef Arturo Solis of the Capital Hotel took top honors at the AHA Culinary Classic. More details on awards to come.

Sweetbreads and pork belly by Chef Arturo Solis of the Capital Hotel took top honors at the 2014 AHA Culinary Classic.

I’ve held for years that this is Little Rock’s best food event, showcasing some of the best talent the state has ago offer. And because they are competing for cash prizes (and respect from their professional colleagues), the chefs bring out their best dishes, often researching and practicing them for weeks beforehand.

This year’s competitors include chefs from the Capital Hotel, Little Rock Marriott, Country Club of Little Rock, Green Leaf Grille, Bistro Catering & Gourmet, and Pulaski Technical College’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute.

Buy your tickets now at this link and we’ll see you there! Be sure to share this post and comment below for your chance to win two tickets. (If you buy tickets and win, AHA will reimburse you.)

Arkansas Hospitality Association Culinary Classic
Tuesday, Sept. 13, 6:30 p.m.
Tickets $45 (Click to purchase)
Statehouse Convention Center, Hall 4
101 E. Markham St., Little Rock
Contact Jill Thiel at (501) 376-2323 or at jill@arhospitality.org

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Want to read more about the Culinary Classic? Check our archives!

2014 Culinary Classic Winners and Photos

Judging the 2013 Culinary Classic 

2013 Culinary Classic Preview 

2012 Culinary Classic Winners and Photos

Diamond Chef Arkansas 2016 at Pulaski Tech CAHMI

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UPDATE: Chef Donnie Ferneau of The 1836 Club has won Diamond Chef Arkansas 2016.

Tonight is a celebration of Arkansas’ culinary excellence at the annual Diamond Chef Arkansas competition, a fundraising event for the Pulaski Technical College Foundation, held at the college’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute (CAHMI) in Little Rock.

This year’s competing chefs are CAHMI’s own Philippe Ducrot; Donnie Ferneau of The 1836 Club; Bonner Cameron of Bistro Catering & Gourmet Take Away; Angela Nix of The Quarter; Justin Patterson of Southern Gourmasian; and Jason Knapp of Sysco.

In previous years, the competition preliminaries were held at a separate location (once the Peabody Hotel lobby, and later the new CAHMI facility) and the finals were a formal event at Statehouse Convention Center some months later. This year, the combined event takes place in one night, with activities across the entire CAHMI facility.

While chefs compete in several rounds within the Gold Competition Lab, with its several video-ready cooking galleys, guests wander the facility for student-made hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and even house-brewed beers and root beer. To add some fun, guests are competing in a fitted-sheet folding competition in the hospitality training area, learning knife skills from students in the Community Education Kitchen, and sampling speciality beverages created in honor of each of the six competing chefs.

Eliminated as of 7:50 p.m.:

Bonner Cameron
Justin Patterson
Philippe Ducrot
Angela Nix

Competing in the Finals:

Donnie Ferneau
Jason Knapp

After two rounds of final dishes, Donnie Ferneau was declared the winner.

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2016 ProStart Arkansas Competition

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Every year, Arkansas’ top culinary and hospitality management high school students come to Pulaski Tech to demonstrate their talents. The winning teams (one in culinary and one in hospitality management) get to attend the national ProStart competition to represent the state.

Today the culinary portion of the competition is taking place at Pulaski Tech’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute.

Want to follow the action? Or do you just like food photos?

We’re taking this over to our sister site at arfoodjobs.com since it pertains to the professional side of culinary arts. Check it out!

Iron Chef 2015 at the Arkansas Hospitality Association Convention

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Final plate by Chef Casey Copeland

Final winning plate by Chef Casey Copeland of SO Restaurant & Bar in Little Rock.

Iron Chef Arkansas! One of the coolest competitions all year. It’s time for some food photos and feats of culinary strength. If you’re unfamiliar, this competition takes place on the floor of the annual  Arkansas Hospitality Association Vendor Showcase and Convention. Eight chefs of AHA member restaurants, clubs or catering operations from across the state are invited to compete. Through 40-minute heats over two days, the chefs must use the ingredients of a mystery basket and show their skills and creativity…. 

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Diamond Chef Arkansas 2015

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Chef Justin Patterson (right) and sous chef Daniel Rogers plating during the competition. The team won the preliminaries and will compete against Marc Guizol in the final on June 2.

Chef Justin Patterson (right) and sous chef Daniel Rogers will battle reigning Diamond Chef Marc Guizol tonight at the Statehouse Convention Center.

At somewhat the last moment, I have decided that I’d rather not slog my laptop into the formal venue tonight at Statehouse Convention Center during the Diamond Chef Arkansas competition benefiting Pulaski Technical College.

However! I hope you will follow along on Twitter, as I will be furiously tweeting each round of action on the stage and each course of the lovely meal I’m sure they have in store for us.

In case you missed it, tonight’s event is the final battle between last year’s champion, Marc Guizol of the Capital Hotel, and this year’s winner of the preliminary competition, Justin Patterson of the Southern Gourmasian. Oh, how I wish I could be a judge tonight and taste the dishes they put out!

I do plan on taking copious photos of those dishes, so check on Twitter and later tonight on the blog for all the goods.

Gluten Free Options at the Greek Food Festival

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When I think of the Greek Food Festival, I think of my wedding day.

Of course, I had absolutely no intention of attending the festival that year, which began the day before our nuptials. A girl can’t be bothered when she’s got to rest up, get her hair done and spend the rest of the day at the church-house getting ready to marry her best bud. Then, we’d be off to our honeymoon; no time for a stop-off…. 

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#ArkansasGives: Give Some, Eat Some for Charity

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ArkansasgivesToday the Arkansas Community Foundation is rallying Arkansans, who are traditionally pretty charitable anyways, to commit the day to giving extra to nonprofits who do good work right here in our state.

ArkansasGives is a 12-hour online fundraising event happening today from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Arkansas Community Foundation is challenging all Arkansans to make a donation to their favorite charity on a single day, and they are adding bonus dollars and prizes on top of the money that comes in from the public. More than 350 nonprofits are participating, and they’re all driving their donors to give via ArkansasGives.org, where the ACF will be tallying the donations in real-time and posting them on leaderboards.

So, what does this have to do with food? Well, for one, many food-related charities are benefiting. My favorite, the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, manages all the No Kid Hungry / Cooking Matters programs in the state, of which I have taught more than a few. Whichever food-related charity you’re drawn to, today is a great day to ensure their operations.

Need more motivation? How about food trucks?

The ArkansasGives event headquarters are at AT&T’s building at 1111 W. Capital, and they have given permission to have four food trucks set up out front during lunch (11 – 1:30). Each of the trucks has chosen a participating ArkansasGives charity they will support with 10% of their proceeds from the day.

Participating trucks will include Southern Salt, Loblolly Ice Cream, Hot Rod Wieners and Katmandu Momo.

So, donate, rally supporters of your favorite charity, and come on out for a lunch that gives!

Diamond Chef Prelim 2015 Live Results

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Chef Justin Patterson (right) and sous chef Daniel Rogers plating during the competition. The team won the preliminaries and will compete against Marc Guizol in the final on June 2.

Chef Justin Patterson (right) and sous chef Daniel Rogers plating during the competition. The team won the preliminaries and will compete against Marc Guizol in the final on June 2.

Heat 1: Billy Ginocchio of Pulaski Tech vs. Payne Harding of Cache
Basket: Creekstone Farms ribeye, whole redfish, Cervasi peppered, McCormick Mediterranean sea salt, blood orange, rum, chocolate caramel Chex mix

Winner: Harding

Heat 2: Justin Patterson of Southern Gourmasian vs. Angela Nardi of Superior Bath House
Basket: Creekstone Farms brisket, whole Bronzini, Cervasi balsamic glaze, McCormick rubbed sage, heirloom cherry tomato, Boulevard Pale Ale, Butterscotch oatmeal bar

Winner: Patterson

Heat 3: Elliot Jones of YaYa’s vs. Jason Knapp of The Green Leaf Grill
Basket: Creekstone Farms beef tenderloin, grouper sides, Cervasi Spicy procuitto spread, McCormick smoked paprika, dragon fruit, sherry, chocolate chip oatmeal bar

Winner: Jones

Heat 4: Harding vs. Jones
Basket: Creekstone Farms Flank Steak, whole flounder, Cervasi tapenade, McCormick whole caraway seeds, passionfruit, marsala, Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Peanut Bar

Winner: Jones

Heat 5: Patterson vs. Jones
Basket: Creekstone Farms bone-in short loin, cobia sides, Cervasi aged cheddar, McCormick cream of tartar, kumquat, peppermint Schnapps, Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Almond Bar

FINAL WINNER: Justin Patterson of Southern Gourmasian. He will compete against Marc Guizol of Capital Bar & Grill in the June 2 final at Statehouse Convention Center. Patterson won against Jones by just half a point (162 to 162.5).

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