Holiday Chefs Challenge To Benefit Outer Banks Food Pantry

Posted By Matt Artz on November 25, 2014

Coffee-coated canned tuna cakes with maple syrup demi-glace? Instant potato casserole studded with peanut butter Pop-Tarts? If the average person tried to make culinary magic from the Beach Food Pantry’s list of most-donated items, chances are the results might not be so tasty. But what about when you ask the Outer Banks best chefs to make culinary magic?

It’s called the Beach Food Pantry Holiday Chefs Challenge, and here’s how it works: 10 area chefs have 60 minutes to cook a delectable dish using anything that is on a list of items that the Beach Food Pantry has in stock, with one of the items having to be a canned good (vegetable, tuna, beans, and the like). Attendees will then sample each creation and vote on the tastiest, most creative dish. And while making top-notch cuisine from non-perishable goods may sound tricky, you’d be surprised what a good chef can do with canned goods, ground beef, and a rack of spices. Then again, maybe you wouldn’t. After all, we’re talking about restaurants like Coastal Provisions, Metropolis, The Garden Grille at Hilton Garden Inn, and Pigman’s Bar-B-Que. Every one of which is as competitive as they are skilled.

“It’s easy to make a filet mignon melt in your mouth,” says Richard Bruce of Pigman’s Bar-B-Que. “But this will be a real test of skills. And a lot of fun to see what folks come up with using every day food items that are available at the Beach Food Pantry.”

Want to help choose the crowned prince or princess of canned goods? Join us on Thursday, December 4, 2014 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk. $50 gets you live holiday music provided by local Outer Banks musicians, two drinks, a bite of every dish, and one “Gateway Bank Culinary Coin” to vote for your favorite creation – plus a tasting of an appetizer, dessert, or entrée that each chef is preparing specially for the event. Don’t be afraid to bring money to buy extra “Culinary Coins” to help your favorite chef win, and to participate in the prize basket raffles and the 50/50 drawing. All proceeds help feed Dare County’s food insecure families who can’t afford to be finicky.

Chefs and restaurants that are currently participating include: BK Shuckers, Coastal Provisions, The Garden Grille at Hilton Garden Inn, Metropolis, Mulligans Raw Bar & Grille, Pigman’s Bar-B-Que, Red Sky Café, and Shure Foods. More chefs will be announced soon!

Holiday entertainment for the evening includes: Kim Kalman, Justus2; Sondra Meinhardt & the Currituck Home School District Choir, Angelo Sonnesso, Graham Outten, Steve Hauser, and Natalie Wolfe

Tickets can be purchased online at www.beachfoodpantry.org; on Brown Paper tickets at http://bfpholidaychefschallenge.brownpapertickets.com/; by emailing [email protected]; calling 252-261-2756; or at the following fine Outer Banks establishments: Gateway Bank in Kitty Hawk; Made in the OBX in Kitty Hawk, Three Dog Ink in Nags Head, and Pigman’s Bar-B-Que in Kill Devil Hills.