Iron Fork Dallas 2013 - Congrats Matt McCallister of FT33

Food, Wine, Fun and Sweat?

All was in plentiful supply last night at the Iron Fork in Dallas.

Cook Hall - Ribs with Peanut Brittle

The event was held at the Dallas Contemporary - which must have not been prepared for the heat because it was pretty much a sweatbox. I found myself craving ice water (SmartWater saved my day), more than the wine or cocktails that were provided -if you know me on a MNO, that's a rare thing. Heh.

I brought a buddy with me, and we still had a nice evening floating from table to table to taste samples of food from over 30 restaurants in the DFW area.

E! Brand Catering - Creole Chicken

Half way through the night, there was the Iron Fork Chef Competition, moderated by Chef Kent Rathbun which was the whole reason for the event (or so they say).  Two chefs, two baskets of food and a mystery ingredient - 30 minutes on the clock and GO!

I had a really hard time seeing what was going on, would have loved to have some cameras angled down at the prep space, so I could actually see what the chefs were cooking. I have no idea what the winning dish looked like, but it was prepared by Chef Matt McCallister of FT33 - who beat the 2 year reigning champ from Nick & Sam's restaurant.

Congrats Matt!  Now, invite me to your restaurant so I can taste your wares in person. {wink, wink}

One of the highlights of my evening, was a simple homemade soda.  Cook Hall, a bar-centric gastropub (located in the W-Hotel Dallas) had samples of their Celery Bush Soda.

The woman serving us, explained that all you do is take a fruit or vegetable, cover it in tons of sugar, let it ferment, and add vinegar which creates a sort of syrup. Then you just add club soda.

Weird. Easy. Cool.

Now, who wants words when you can have photos?

Scardello Cheese

Whole Foods & Lakewood Brewing - Beer Braised Slider

Please don't tell anyone that at the end of our evening, as we prepared to exit the building, we found an entire second part of the building with a plethora of restaurants offering samples and drinks that we had somehow missed [&%#%$^&*].

Am I the only one who missed this entire section of the event? I doubt it, since this second side still had tons of samples, while the section we spent most of the night in were out of samples quite a bit earlier.

DELISH

•  SER Steak + Spirits - the most tender, melt in your mouth flat iron wagyu beef I've ever tasted.
• The Londoner - chicken tikka masala was warm, spicy and full of delicousness

DUDS

• Full Circle Tavern - so excited to try their Franconia Beer Cheese Soup, but was way too heavy handed on the salt.
• Not enough tables - not surprising but I never seem to think there's enough tables at events like this. There is simply no way to balance a full glass of wine, plate of food, fork, napkin, menus and other swag unless you have a table to periodically use. 

Until next year, Iron Fork.....................eat happy! 




Disclosure: Thank you to the Dallas Observer for the complimentary tickets, to facilitate a blog post!