Thursday, May 7, 2009
Events Iron Fork 2009: Barlow Takes Home the Fork
Posted by Carrington Fox on Thu, May 7, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Purplish with pride, a jubilant Jeremy Barlow took home the coveted Golden Fork at last night's Iron Fork, the Scene's second annual culinary showdown. The chef/owner of tayst restaurant and his sous chef "Destroyer" wowed a panel of judges with their treatment of the secret ingredient--purple asparagus.
Team tayst put forth a triptych of asparagus tips served with bacon-caramel sauce and lardons, blood orange foam and quinoa with strawberries. For a second dish, Barlow delivered marinated flank steak over two purple spears, plated with a bowl of tobacco-smoked potato puree in a bath of cool asparagus soup.
Judges Deb Paquette of Zola, Joseph Kirkland of Le Creuset, Brian Diller from St. Luke's Community House, Merijoy Lantz Rucker from Whole Foods and culinary consultant Freddy Brooker praised Barlow's creation for its elegant presentation and creative integration of the secret ingredient.
Picked yesterday afternoon at Delvin Farms, the purple asparagus has a fresh crunch some tasters likened to a daikon radish, and is sweeter than regular green asparagus.
The Scene's second annual Iron Fork filled the Country Music Hall of Fame with spectators who watched the action of Kitchen Coliseum while tasting food from some of Nashville's best restaurants.
Contestants Jason Love of Ombi: A Gastropub, Bart Pickens of Saffire, Guerry McComas of Yellow Porch and Tandy Wilson of City House, along with Barlow, put on a memorable show, delivering exquisite meals in under one hour. Chefs showcased purple asparagus in a range of dishes that included asparagus slaw, soup and risotto, paired with tuna, halibut, pork tenderloin.
If there were a prize for fastest chef, it would likely go to Love & Co. who lapped the competition to get Ombi's creation to the judges first. Bart Pickens brought the best cheering section, with legions of fans in "I heart Bart" T-shirts. Guerry McComas and Team Yellow Porch remained as cool under pressure as the blanched purple asparagus and spaetzle chilling in their ice bath. And Tandy Wilson made a stunning twist on breakfast with his soft-poached egg with chorizo breadcrumbs over a raft of asparagus.
Barlow takes the Golden Fork from last year's champion, Deb Paquette. Along with the trophy, he gets to keep the Le Creuset cookware he used last night. The remaining four sets will go to a local culinary arts program.
If you have any doubts about attending next year, this should settle them.
Comments (11)
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Everyone I spoke to thought this was a huge improvement over last year—food and drink were plentiful, lines were short and moved like lightning, and capping the crowd left a lot more room.
The biggest headache was the process itself. I felt sorry for the judges, who were trying to give full attention to each plate even as dishes piled up three deep, and for the chefs, whose plates were cooling on the runway. I heard Bart Pickens wisecrack, "Well, this was hot fish."
But the chefs were all great sports, and the few dishes I got to sample on the sly were dynamite. Speaking of food samples, I loved:
• the stewed cactus from Los Rosales
• the sweet-potato grits heaped with brown-sugar pork from Saffire
• the chocolate-pecan tarts from Martha Stamps' Catering (where were those biscuits?)
• the hot chicken from Corner Pub (a huge surprise)
• the pineapple ginger punch from Whole Foods
There's more that I'm forgetting, and more that I flat-out missed. Help me out, folks.
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Kudos to everyone that pulled together the event. Mr. Pink is correct, it was a HUGE improvement over last year! We had so much fun, and left with very full tummies.
My personal favorites:
Martha Stamps' sweet potato biscuits with country ham and peach chutney
Rumour's white chocolate mousse and banana peanut butter cupcakes (where did they say these are from?)
Tazza's mini mushroom swiss burger (surprise)
Drinkhaus' gorgonzola rosemary biscuits
I also second the love for Saffire's grits & pork.
That's it! The Drinkhaus biscuits were great. I'm a sucker for cheese biscuits anyway, and the rosemary gave it a mild sting. Is that a regular menu item? If not, it should be—it went down really well with the Southern pecan coffee from Nashville Coffee & Co. Most flavored coffee makes me gag, but theirs didn't taste like a lab experiment.
Oops. Forgot to add that the "Elvis cakes" at Rumours were from Sweet 16th in East Nashville.
Pink, I loved that sweet-sour cactus from Los Rosales. I thought it would fantastic with roast pork. And I took your advice and got the pineapple ginger punch -- so good I got two of them and dumped them into a gin and tonic. I highly recommend it.
I had a blast last night! I actually left well-fed and quite tipsy, so hey, win-win.
My favorite moment of the night was Tandy Wilson coming up to me and saying, "Hey, I know you. You're the vegan!"
Good times. Talked to lots of chefs, tried some great food and had tons of fun.
Jim, great to finally meet you and Carrington, great to see you, as always. Fantastic job, Guys.
Great to meet you too, Yvonne. I should take the money I spend on lottery tickets and put it all down on your inevitable TV-show empire.
Aww, thanks Jim! :)
I did a mini-review of the event in my lastest vlog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgOjaQ3v_HE
The DrinkHaus Gorgonzola + rosemary biscuits make an appearance at the shop now and then (rotating with the cheddar + bacon + chive and the sundried tomato + basil).
They are also available through the DrinkHaus Catering program anytime.
We had a great time at this event and we are definitely going to be there again next year!!
