The scene was set for the start of the eighth annual Bloomington Chef Challenge. The competition pegged three local chefs against each other on the spot in a cook-off with a mystery ingredient, similar to the style of the show “Iron Chef.”
Mainstream music pumped up the crowd as their voices grew in anticipated chatter with each prolonged minute.
At the strike of 7, the lights dimmed, instrumental music gained in intensity and the rowdy crowd erupted in applause.
“Please take your seats,” a voice said through the speaker. “The competition is about to begin. Welcome to the Community Kitchen’s Chef Challenge.”
Danielle McClelland, the Buskirk-Chumley executive director, said that although the event took place in a historical theater house, the chef cook-off was designed to take place there.
“The Community Kitchen is well aware that the Buskirk is a primary location for sizable events in the downtown area,” she said. “It has a fairly large stage and the Community Kitchen, along with the assistance of Bloomingfoods, sets up the competitors’ work stations on stage.”
The stage is arranged with a full kitchen set up the best that they can, McClelland said.
Lined across the front of the stage were long, vertical tables draped with deep red fabric to exemplify the regality of the Buskirk, but it’s what rested on the table and the six individuals standing behind them that was most important.
Each chef, and their partnered sous chef, had their own space and chose from the two pantry racks located on stage.
“The audience benefits from roving appetizer trays,” McClelland said. “They are provided by community restaurants, including restaurants that have chefs participating.”
The Chef Competition was designed primarily as a fundraising event for the Community Kitchen.
“We’re proud and happy to be a host for such an engaging and entertaining community event,” McClelland said.
Standing with a tray in hand next to Brad Wilhelm from the Comedy Attic as the evening’s emcee, a representative held the secret ingredient within his grasp. He removed the black cloth on top of it to reveal its identity: honey.
First up was Topo’s 403’s head chef, George Pavlopoulos. He entered the stage, making eye contact with the audience but nervously looking from side to side.
Pavlopoulos and his sous chef, Nick Lane, worked wordless in tandem motions. Armed with latex gloves and a kitchen at their disposal, Lane set to work on separating eggs as Pavlopoulos sliced rainbow trout vertically, pushing the edges to the side.
Next, Seth Elgar, 32, the chef and general manager at No Coast Reserve, took the stage.
“Seth’s a beast,” said Craig Kirby, a chef at Serendipity. “My money is on him. If anyone would scare me in this competition, it would be him.”
The minute Elgar reached the stage, he sliced a knife deep into an arm-length bed of pork. His sous chef, Sasha Divine, cut into a pineapple.
The two worked as one with a blur of their matching navy polos, black aprons and plain navy caps as they circled the director’s right of the stage. Their dance continued as Elgar quickly dry-rubbed his pork and light wisps of smoke floated above their pans.
“Experience plays pretty heavily into the completion,” Elgar said. “The product of experience plays into knowing different proteins, vegetables and starches than most cooks do. Also, it’s having years of making mistakes and learning from them.”
Elgar said the pressure is to reign in what you want to do and what you can get done in an hour.
“Everyone there gets to see us sweat and move in a way that you never do in a restaurant because there’s always a wall between you and the kitchen,” he said. “It doesn’t do any good to get nervous beforehand, but I think it’s natural. Once adrenaline gets pumping, the hour goes by very quickly.”
Last to enter the heated Buskirk stage was Zach Selby, 28, the kitchen manager at the newly opened restaurant off of Patterson, Feast Market and Café, and his sous chef Erika Yochum, a veteran to the Chef Competitors stage.
“I’ve been putting off thinking about the whole competition for some weeks now because I don’t want to get nervous,” he said. “It’s starting to settle in that it’s happening, so I am getting nervous.”
As he entered, the crowd erupted in applause, but they kept their composure, working in whispers.
As Selby’s time started, he worked slowly and steadily. He completed smooth and hard strokes as his knife dug into his chosen ingredient, butternut squash.
Fifteen minutes set each of the chefs apart. Pavlopoulos had the lead with his nearly done trout moose, grilled squash and prepped tomatoes. The judges stood looming over the competitors from the back of the stage.
Each contestant created different dishes from each other. Selby worked with trimmed sweet potatoes and honey trout while Elgar worked with seared pork and pieces of chicken liver. Elgar’s jalapeño peppers scented the Buskirk, filling its crisp spicy scent deep into the lobby.
The chefs moved in fast-paced and concentrated movements around the theater’s staged kitchen.
Selby took home the win with his unusual dish that impressed the judges, but Elgar didn’t go home empty handed. As a fan favorite, he received the People’s Choice.
“No matter who you are, you get some food,” McClelland said. “The show itself is always really wonderful ?entertainment.”
