Abbey’s Kitchen Stadium is a series of Iron-Chef style cooking competitions that feature chefs from many of Toronto’s restaurants, whose cuisines range from pizzas to seafood to fine dining. The goal of the cooking series is to raise money and awareness for the local food initiative, My Food My Way. This initiative was started by the Toronto District School Board, and the Toronto Education Workers, as a way to change the experience of food by using different methods such as design, technology, music and celebrity culture to teach young people to make healthy choices in their lives.
The competition comprises of four events, each with four chefs doing battle against each other by creating two dishes using a mystery ingredient. The winning chef from the first three events will go on to the championship battle while the fourth competitor will be chosen by the public via an online poll.
The first of the competitions took place in Toronto at The Mod Club and comprised of chefs from some of the city’s hottest restaurants. The four chefs were Bruce Woods of Woods, Matt Basile from Fidel Gastros, Rocco Agostino from Pizzeria Libretto and Matt Pettit from Rock Lobster Food Co..
** I apologize for the quality of the pictures, I rushed out of the house and forgot to grab my camera. These were taken with my phone. **
L to R, Bruce Woods, Matt Basile, Abbey Sharp, Rocco Agostino & Matt Pettit
The judges for the first battle were James Cunningham (host of Eat Street on the Food Network), Bruce Croxon (one of the dragons on Dragons Den), Jordan Hastings (Alexisonfire drummer, co-founder Dine Alone Foods) and Peter Neal (Neal Brothers owner).
L to R, James Cunningham, Bruce Croxon, Jordan Hastings & Peter Neal
For the first battle the mystery ingredient was potato chips and each chef incorporated it very successfully into their dishes.
Chef Bruce Woods`s dishes were 1) Neal Brothers Sweet & Smoky BBQ chips topped it with duck confit, poached quail egg and a bernaise sauce. 2) Maple and brown butter glazed donut topped with white chocolate and bacon coated with Neal Brothers Pink Salt and Vinegar chips.
Neal Brothers Sweet & Smoky BBQ chips topped with duck confit, poached quail egg and a bernaise sauce
Maple and brown butter glazed donut topped with white chocolate and bacon coated with Neal Brothers Pink Salt & Vinegar chips.
Chef Matt Basile`s dishes were 1) Himalayan marrow mash topped with buttermilk fried onions and Neal Brothers Sea Salt chips 2) House made smoky sausage with the potato chips incorporated inside the sausage and a caramelized onion aioli. (I only took a picture of the marrow mash)
Bone marrow mashed potatoes topped with buttermilk fried onions
Chef Rocco Agostino countered with 1) Neal Brothers Pink Sea Salt & Vinegar chip gnocchi with an eggplant caponata and salmoriglio 2) Neal Brothers Pink Sea Salt chip ice cream with potato chip praline. (Unfortunately we finished these before I had a chance to take a picture)
Offerings from Chef Rocco Agostino
Chef Matt Pettit presented the judges with 1) Cowboy Corn – corn that has a butter and Neal Brothers Sweet Smoky BBQ chip crust drizzled with a cilantro crema and micro greens 2) Peanut brittle with Neal Brothers Pink Salt and Vinegar chips.
Butter and Sweet Smoky BBQ chip crusted corn with cilantro crema and micro greens
So after the all the dishes were tasted, the scores tabulated and the dust finally settled, Chef Bruce Woods from Woods Restaurant was declared the winner of the first battle in Abbey`s Kitchen Stadium! Congratulations Chef Woods, your food that I tasted at the event was delicious. I can`t wait to see what you have up your sleeve for the final showdown.
Chef Bruce Woods
The next battle in Abbey`s Kitchen Stadium will take place in July with four different chefs and a new mystery ingredient.
I`m eagerly awaiting the details of the next battle, I wonder if Abbey will share some of her secrets if I ask nicely.
Disclosure: I won two tickets to this event from a contest that Abbey Sharp held. The pictures of food that were used in this post were all purchased by me.
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