Local Chefs Showdown Celebrates Tastes of Spring

If freshly made culinary delights tickle your taste buds and competitive cooking stirs up your inner foodie, the Farm to Fork Chef Showdown in Enterprise on May 17 will satisfy your cravings.

The Showdown is the main entrée at the annual Enterprise Farmers Market Peak Season Kickoff, which traditionally celebrates the vibrant colors and tastes of spring produce like squash, tomatoes, lemons, cucumbers, peppers, peaches, carrots, and so much more. 🥕🍑🍅

“The Kickoff has been celebrated for many years and is always a great day at the Market. Shoppers are excited about the seasonal food they’ve been craving after a long winter,” says Farmers Market Manager Birgit Briggs. “But the excitement and adventure of the event really began to boil when we mixed in the Chef Showdown three years ago.”

The competition pairs local chefs with amateur home cooks seeking to learn from and improve their own culinary skills by cooking with a professional. The home cooks and their mentors form a team that shops for fresh ingredients at the Market on a limited budget and then races against the clock ⏰ to craft a winning dish using only grills or portable burners. 🔥

“The Chef Showdown isn’t just about mixing ingredients, it’s a showcase of creativity and passion, where professional chefs and home cooks come together to demonstrate how fresh, local ingredients can be transformed into incredible dishes, inspiring all of us to bring the farm-to-table experience into our own kitchens,” says Tourism Director Tammy Doerer.

Participating chefs enjoy the outdoor competition because it gives them a stirring challenge and an opportunity to showcase their talents and businesses. 🧑‍🍳👩‍🍳 Although participants may know and respect each other through the restaurant community, they arrive at the Chef Showdown with a competitive spirit. They cook to win. 🏆

“These cooks work intensely chopping, blending, sautéing, saucing, grilling, and plating their food, but it’s not just the hot weather that keeps them sweating,” Doerer points out. “All the while, they feel the pressure of competing against some of the finest chefs and home cooks in the area!”

“Even so, the competition has always been lively and fun, and the dishes made in this competition for the past two years have been unbelievably palatable,” she says.

The inaugural Chef Showdown Champions were C.J. Kay, owner and head chef of The Barrel Room, and local cooking enthusiast Brooke Covington. Describing the event as “amazing,” Chef Kay says she loved going spatula-to-spatula with fellow chefs and friends. She and Covington also enjoyed meeting market visitors and giving them ideas about how to turn market produce into healthy and delicious meals for their families.

Their 2023 winning culinary masterpiece was a:

• Watermelon and Cucumber Salad with white balsamic dressing, mint, burrata, and grilled peaches 🍑

• Paired with a grilled beef medallion kabob skewered with a Cubano stuffed pepper wrapped in grilled zucchini 🥒

“The Showdown was a beautiful experience for me,” says Zaine Young, head chef at Corks & Cattle, who won the 2024 Chef Showdown with her teammate Erin Byers. Their winning dish was:

• Avocado Corn Salsa 🥑🌽

• Ribeye Steak with a cilantro crema 🥩

• Accompanied by a watermelon gazpacho 🍉

Young, who expects to defend her title this year, enjoyed working with Byers to define the recipe, share the chopping and cooking duties, and take the opportunity to teach as well as compete.

“I can’t wait to be part of the Showdown again this year!”

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🏅 More Than Just a Competition

Doerer and Briggs invite everyone to come walk around the activity field at the Market on May 17 and watch the fast-paced action — from the speedy shopping to the nervous placing of the finished product before a panel of celebrity judges.

Entries are judged in both the Chef Showdown Championship and the People’s Choice categories. The two People’s Choice winners in 2023 were:

• Ashton Cutts, owner and head chef of Cutts Restaurant, and teammate Gene Carter
  And in 2024:

• Sofia Quinones of The Social on Main Tapas Bar and teammate Caroline Odom

Doerer and Briggs promise more details about the 2025 Showdown will be available soon and invite everyone to visit the Enterprise Farmers Market Facebook page for updates. 📅