Fancy Pants Foodie

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

Foodie Event: Iron Chef at Arkansas Hospitality Association Convention and Tradeshow

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(Update 9/29…See all participants and results below photos. Thanks to Holly Heer with AHA.)

Greetings, Foodies!

If you didn’t know, the Arkansas Iron Chef competition takes place annually on the Arkansas Hospitality Association convention and tradeshow floor, over the two days of the conference. Thanks to winning a couple silent auctions Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to sit in on yesterday’s Heat 2, and today’s final round.

As reported earlier, I tasted the results of yesterday’s Heat 2 between the boys from Forty Two and Simply the Best, with Forty Two winning. Here are the dishes from that round, using duck as the surprise ingredient:

Iron Chef Heat 2 dish by Chef Jacob Peck and Sous Chef Greg Wallis of Forty Two.Roasted duck with a mango gastrique, asparagus and couscous.

Iron Chef Heat 2 dish by Chef Jacob Peck and Sous Chef Greg Wallis of Forty Two. Roasted duck with a mango gastrique, asparagus and couscous.

Simply the Best

Iron Chef Heat 2 entry by Chef Jason Godwin and Sous Chef Willie Yearwood of Simply the Best. Seared duck breast with tomato onion jam, asparagus and mozzarella tortellini, and mushroom cream sauce.

I’m not going to pick favorites here, as they were both incredible. But let me just tell you…that “onion tomato jam,” as bizarre as it sounds to most of us, was slap-your-momma good. I was literally whacking the table. Mmmm. But both were wonderful, and Forty Two won the heat with tons of points, carrying them immediately to the final round.

**Intermission** I have to tell a funny story. I thought all this time that my second silent auction prize was for the Semi-Final round. It said so on the ticket. I sit down today at the appropriate time, and the folks in charge politely shoo me out, as someone else had won that tasting. Turns out that my ticket was misprinted, and I had, in fact, won the FINAL round tasting. Booyah!

The final round was between Chef Jacob Peck and Sous Chef Greg Wallis of Forty Two, and Chef Osi Imomoh and Sous Chef Howard Austion of Southland Park Gaming & Racing. The surprise protein was — wait for it — rabbit. I think I was the only one to chuckle, picturing the poor old rabbit form they used to use at the greyhound races. (They tell me it’s now a bone shape that draws the doggies around the track.)

Me 'n' Mona about to eat some good stuff.

Me ‘n’ Mona about to eat some good stuff.

Since I had so much food to myself yesterday for Heat 2, I invited a friend, Ramona Collins (@monaspoeticwax) to eat with me. Our lives have crossed paths in several weird ways over our lives, and we’re just now getting to know each other. What a great way to do so, over great food!

Here are the two dishes we tasted for the final round:

Iron Chef Final Round dish by Chef Osi Imomoh and Sous Chef Howard Austion of Southland Park Gaming & Racing. Smothered rabbit with cornmeal johnnycake, greens and roasted squash.

Iron Chef Final Round dish by Chef Osi Imomoh and Sous Chef Howard Austion of Southland Park Gaming & Racing. Smothered rabbit with cornmeal johnnycake, greens and roasted squash.

Iron Chef Final Round dish by Chef Jacob Peck and Sous Chef Greg Wallis of Forty Two. Roasted rabbit with a raspberry coulis, sweet applesauce, carrots and greens w/bacon. This was the winning dish.

Iron Chef Final Round dish by Chef Jacob Peck and Sous Chef Greg Wallis of Forty Two. Roasted rabbit with a raspberry coulis, sweet applesauce, carrots and greens w/bacon. This was the winning dish.

IRON CHEF COMPETITION PHOTOS:

Wednesday, September 23

Heat 1, Celebrity Round – Chef Jamie McAfee, Pine Pluff Country Club & Steve Marston, Point 94.1 vs. Chef Andre Poirot, Peabody Hotel & Jennifer Trafford, Point 94.1

Winner: Poirot & Trafford

Heat 2 – Chef Jacob Peck & Sous Chef Greg Wallis, 42 vs. Chef Jason Godwin & Sous Chef Willie Yearwood, Simply the Best Catering

Winner: 42

Heat 3 – Chef Ted Roman & Sous Chef Jody Smallwood, Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa vs. Chef Osi Imomoh & Sous Chef Howard Austion, Southland Park Gaming & Racing

Winner: Southland Park Gaming & Racing

Heat 4 – Chef Phillip Southan, River Grille & Sous Chef Krista Rogalla, Pulaski Tech Culinary School vs. Chef Nathan Miller & Sous Chef Karle Johnson, The House

Winner: The House

Thursday, September 24

Semi-Finals

Chef Osi Imomoh & Sous Chef Howard Austion, Southland Park Gaming & Racing vs. Chef Nathan Miller & Sous Chef Karle Johnson, The House

Winner: Southland Park Gaming & Racing

Finals

Chef Osi Imomoh & Sous Chef Howard Austion, Southland Park Gaming & Racing vs. Chef Jacob Peck & Sous Chef Greg Wallis, 42

Iron Chef Champion: 42

Comments

  1. Red wine vinegar, esp homemade. is such a nice touch for many things. Greens were in BAM this month so there was a lot of recipe trading going on. One of the ladies suggested soy sauce. I love pepperoncini vinegar on mine.

    • You can't go wrong! I think both dishes had bacon in the greens, but it was in larger, crispy pieces in the Forty Two dish. I liked both. The Southland greens were a little more traditional, used more of the stalk of the greens, which I liked, and had a polished flavor. The Forty Two greens were heavily flavored with a (guessing here) red wine vinegar, which was really different but also tasty.