It’s time for the biggest fight of the year, Are you ready to cheer on your favorite Chef at CULINARY FIGHT FEST on Sunday, August 13th from 11-3pm. This years FIGHT FEST is going to be at the Hard Rock Cafe located at 63 W Ontario St Chicago, Illinois 60654.
Past Culinary Fight Club Competitors and Winners are invited to share their signature Bite on August 13. It’s up to you to choose who will be the Top 4 Best Bites that will continue on compete in the Ultimate Battle to win the Culinary Fight Fest Regional Champion Trophy.
Here’s how that works. Attendees receive 4 chips to vote for their Fave Bites. The Top 4 overall Fave Bites will throw down in a CFF Choice 30-minute Battle.
When a friend of mine invited me to the #MeetTheMedi VR dining experience with her, I was like totally YES! I love Olive Garden. I mean I LOVE their bread sticks! And I had no idea Olive Garden had a section of the menu featuring entrees that have 600 calories or less.
We arrived at the station gathered our tickets and sipped champagne before heading to the platform for our train to the Mediterranean as we waited we mingled with the fellow passengers while sipping our Green Apple Moscato Sangria. The train conductor shouted out the train had arrived. We boarded the train to begin our trip to #MeetTheMedi We dined in a train car with video screens and sounds mimicking a train trip across the Italian country side.
CHICKEN MARGHERITA – Grilled chicken breasts topped with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil pesto and a lemon garlic sauce. Served with parmesan crusted zucchini.
SHRIMP SCAMPI – Shrimp sautéed in a garlic sauce, tossed with asparagus, tomatoes and angel hair pasta.
CHICKEN PICCATA – Grilled chicken topped with a lemon garlic butter sauce, sun-dried tomatoes and capers. Served with parmesan crusted zucchini.
LINGUINE DI MARE – Shrimp and mussels sauteed with homemade pomodoro sauce and whole grain linguine.
AND DESSERT …….
I simply can’t believe ALL of these dishes are under 600 calories. I’ll be back again and again. Thanks SO much to Olive Garden for the preview. Be sure to check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Monthly Live Cooking Competitions around Chicago produced by CULINARY Fight Club. Each month fires up with a new theme, ingredients, contestants, judges, prizes, and location!
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Contestants or Teams have (60) minutes to impress (3) judges, using (1) 10k BTU Burner and (15) supplied raw ingredients & (3) surprise ingredients, all to be judged on that one perfect bite! Hungry, don’t worry there is also a Taster’s Choice Award too! So attendees are encouraged to grab a tasting spoon, dig in and vote for their favorite bite!
Culinary Fight Club hosts live cooking competitions. No two events are the same. The teams of cooks race for 45 seconds to choose 15 ingredients from the pantry of food provided by Reinhart Foodservice.
Once the ingredients are collected, each team has 60 minutes to construct a dish that depicts their take on the monthly theme. These Chefs and cooks of all levels around the area compete for a “Golden Ticket,” to advance to the Super Bowl of “food sport” events, the World Food Championships! Once the timer hit 60 minutes, the audience members and judges sample and vote on a winning dish.
The most amazing part about this concept is that the Culinary Fight Club is partnered with Fight2Feed, which 20% of proceeds are donated. This is an organization that partners with top restaurants and food trucks to provide service and support to hungry men, women and children.
This Months Chefs
Each month, chefs compete to advance to the next round and finalists have an opportunity to make it to the World Food Championships.
These are the chefs that competed in December:
Chef Mark Gaylord (HE WON!)
Chef Kevin Guida
Chef Madeline Wehking
Chef Justin Vaiciunas
Chef Chris De LaCueva
When and Where is the next one?
The location changes every month, Check here to find out and get your tickets! Don’t forget to like Culinary Fight Club on Facebook and follow on Twitter to be sure you’re getting all the latest information.
2 tsp. seasoning (Mrs. Dash® Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend)
1 pound dried penne pasta
Parsley for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
Cook penne pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Sprinkle seasoning over shrimp in a large heavy oiled sauce pan, until shrimp are fully cooked. Add in ½ jar Pasta Sauce and 16 oz. of Alfredo sauce and the packet of Knorr Parma Rosa Pasta Sauce Mix, stir and cook down for two minutes. Toss in penne pasta, garnish with fresh parmesan and Italian parsley
Come on out and cheer for your favorite Chef for 3rdAnnual Sip+Bite Fundraiser Throwdown at Bottled Blonde Chicago 504 N Wells St, Chicago, Illinois 60654 on Monday 12/19 at 6pm.
This month, we pay homage to THE PERFECT SIP PAIRED WITH THE PERFECT BITE. They’ve put some amazing chefs head to head to see how they can create their signature Sip+Bite to represent ChiTown in one hour. You don’t want to miss this!
Culinary Fight Club is a live cooking competition where chefs have 45 seconds to grab all the ingredients they can in order to cook the best dish they can. Chefs can also bring 3 secret ingredients to help their chances. Four judges will choose the official winner and our audience will choose a People’s Choice winner.
Olive Theory Pizzeria is one of the best worst kept secrets. This place not only has super fast pizza, but delicious too. They are the number one ranked pizza place in Illinois. If you haven’t been there, then you need to go. Although it is unlikely this will be the only one for long
Not only do they have pizza for one flat price! I know. Can you believe it? No matter what you order the price is the same for the pizzas, calzones and salads. They have house recipes that you can alter or you can craft your own.
The best part is that Olive Theory Pizzeria is based on the olive branch. They want to help the community by giving back. For every 10 pizzas purchased they donate 1 pizza back to the community. Not only are you feeding yourself, but everyone around you.
I can’t forget there is an app! Fast ordering is easy with the app. You can make your lunch even faster by ordering in advance. This is a place that will easily become a favorite for lunch.
This was my first Culinary Fight Club (CFC) competition! Let me tell you, this event was heaven for any Foodie. Being surrounded by fellow Foodies all while drinking, eating, and enjoying some healthy competition made for a memorable night!
This months theme was Chicago Street Food, CFC brought in six chefs from across the Chicago area to make their interpretation of Chicago street food. It was so incredible to watch as the chefs planed, prepped, and prepared their dishes in under 60 minutes. Watching them from setup of their stations, to stalking the pantry before the competition, to the drawing of the contestant number, and finally the race 45 second race to the pantry all leads up to the main event the competition to create the best dish.
Left: Chef Davis Rolon of Devon Seafood Grill, Chef Phil Wingo of Pork Mafia, Chef Nicholas Saponaro of ZED 451, Chef Mildred Ayala a Home Chef/Kitchen Inspector, Chef Ben Karawoski, Chef James Bernstien of the Lake Villa Fire Dept
A photo posted by Alison Groen (@rosiediscovers) on
What is Culinary Fight Club?
Culinary Fight Club hosts live cooking competitions. No two events are the same. The teams of cooks race for 45 seconds to choose 15 ingredients from the pantry of food provided by Reinhart Foodservice.
Once the ingredients are collected, each team has 60 minutes to construct a dish that depicts their take on the monthly theme. These Chefs and cooks of all levels around the area compete for a “Golden Ticket,” to advance to the Super Bowl of “food sport” events, the World Food Championships! Once the timer hit 60 minutes, the audience members and judges sample and vote on a winning dish.
The most amazing part about this concept is that the Culinary Fight Club is partnered with Fight2Feed, which 20% of proceeds are donated. This is an organization that partners with top restaurants and food trucks to provide service and support to hungry men, women and children.
And The Winners Are …….
Both winners received their “Golden Ticket,” to advance to the World Food Championships!
Audience Choice Winner Chef Nicholas Saponaro ZED 451
Judges Winner Chef Mildred Ayala Home Chef/Kitchen Inspector
Come on out and cheer for your favorite Chef as they throwdown for #CulinaryFightClub “Chicago Street Food” at Concord Fifty Five located at 1355 West Concord Place Chicago, IL 60642 on Monday 10/17 at 6pm.
This month, we pay homage to the Chicago Street Food. They’ve put some amazing chefs head to head to see how they can create their signature Street Food to represent ChiTown in one hour. You don’t want to miss this!
There’s still time to register for tonight’s Culinary Fight Club
Each Chef has a discount code: JOZI17 DAVID17 MILLIE17 BEN17 JAMES17 NICH17 PHIL17
This special chef code gets you $15 off the regular ticket price!
Culinary Fight Club is a live cooking competition where chefs have 45 seconds to grab all the ingredients they can in order to cook the best dish they can. Chefs can also bring 3 secret ingredients to help their chances. Four judges will choose the official winner and our audience will choose a People’s Choice winner.