Meet Iron Fork’s 2026 Chef Competitors

Interest is high in this year’s upcoming Iron Fork competition on Nov. 12 at Harken Hall, and prediction markets rate the contest as a dead heat between the participating chefs. (Ah, who are we kidding? Nobody bets on Iron Fork, because everybody is a winner — especially the attendees who win the auction to sample each participant’s dish!)

But if there were Kalshi odds on the competition, it would be mighty difficult to handicap a favorite, because this is an extremely talented lineup of cheftestants. Here’s a preview of who will be throwing down at Harken Hall.

Dung “Junior” Vo

Executive chef and partner at Noko, Kase x Noko and Noko Yaki

This year’s reigning Best Chef writers’ choice in the Scene’s Best of Nashville issue, Junior Vo operates three Nashville restaurants that continue to offer some of the most sought-after reservations in town. The former James Beard semifinalist is comfortable cooking over live fire at Noko or presiding over the elegant and entertaining omakase service next door at Kase x Noko.

Born in the coastal city of Nha Trang in Vietnam, Vo moved to the United States before he was a teenager. Combining his family’s cooking traditions with new culinary skills learned at the Art Institute in Atlanta, he began his professional career working for Indigo Road Hospitality Group at O-Ku locations in Atlanta and Charleston.

In 2022, Vo came to Nashville with two fellow Indigo Road alums, Jon Murray and Wilson Braddock, to open their own concept at Noko. Vo’s facility with bold flavors that combine South Asian and Southern American traditions has delighted customers at his first two restaurants and promises to continue to push the envelope at his brand-new Noko Yaki.

No matter what the secret ingredient is at this year’s Iron Fork, Vo will cook with intentionality and an immediately discernible culinary point of view. Maybe it’s his hobby of ballroom dancing that keeps him so light on his feet in the kitchen, but he rarely makes a wrong step!

Alfredo Bueno

Executive chef at 888 

888 is a unique restaurant, operating two distinct culinary programs under one roof. Master chef Kiichi Okabe runs The Kounter, 888’s intimate sushi bar, where patrons enjoy dinner and a show courtesy of the chef and a DJ spinning vinyl. The main kitchen and the bulk of the menu are the responsibility of Alfredo Bueno. As a young man, Bueno got his start learning baking and pastry skills in Mexico City before enrolling in culinary school. Early jobs found him in kitchens ranging from Cancún to the Four Seasons in Austin to Marseilles in France.

In 2022, he left Provence to travel to Nashville for an opportunity at Bourbon Steak in the JW Marriott. After rising to sous chef, Bueno accepted the position of executive chef at 888, where he leans on his breadth of international cuisines and flavors to create exciting dishes across multiple menus for different times of the day and individual sections of the restaurant. His custom “Miyabi” menu is a chef’s choice of shareables, raw presentations, signature dishes and a dessert. Just sit down and put yourself in his capable hands.

Bueno earned his spot to compete at Iron Fork by winning the “Battle of the Best Bite” at last spring’s Music City Food & Wine Festival, where attendees voted his Hamachi Truffle Handroll the most delectable offering of the evening.

Marcio Florez

Executive chef at Limo Peruvian Eatery 

Not every chef can make the jump from their own familiar restaurant kitchen to the pared-down cooking setup of the individual cooking stations at Iron Fork. Not only are the tools and ingredients intentionally limited, but there’s the pressure-cooker environment of cooking against the clock in front of a live audience.

Chef Marcio Florez might have a leg up on his competition, because he made his mark in Nashville cooking amazing Peruvian cuisine out of his humble food truck, The Inka Trailer, for more than a decade. Working fast in a cramped environment is old hat to him, and between the truck and his cozy East Side restaurant Limo, Florez may put out more flavor per square foot than most chefs in Nashville.

Although he moved from his homeland to the U.S. at a young age, Florez always carried his ardor for authentic Peruvian cuisine with him, including to culinary school at Nashville State Community College. While much of Peruvian cooking features humble and delicious cuisine, the country is also known for an exciting fusion movement, combining ingredients from the Andes and the Pacific with international influences from Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean.

There aren’t many secret ingredients that could stump chef Florez, and don’t expect to see him sweating in the kitchen at Iron Fork. He’ll probably be cool as a cebiche!

Ana Aguilar and Joshua Cook

Founders and co-executive chefs at Tantísimo 

Chefs Ana Aguilar and Josh Cook share a love story that Taylor Swift could write a song about. The couple met while they were both working at Husk, falling in love with the restaurant’s attitude toward radical hospitality, and eventually with each other. Southern Californian Aguilar brings a deep knowledge and appreciation of Latin American culinary traditions to the table, drawing menu inspiration from Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and more. Nashville native Cook shares a love of these cuisines along with the sort of fanatical attention to seasonal ingredients, local sourcing and sustainable practices that both chefs learned at Husk. He also grows many of the specialty herbs and other produce items that Tantísimo uses on the ever-changing menu.

With their self-described “Mexicana-owned Spanglish Shop,” Aguilar and Cook have grown from a pop-up at the Richland Park Farmers Market to their own food truck to finally their own brick-and-mortar location in Sylvan Park, where they were named 2026 StarChefs Nashville Rising Stars Award winners. They like to reverse-engineer ingredients that have become processed, making their own dulce de leche and chamoy from scratch to add sweet and spice to their recipes. 

Individual dishes on the menu are presented with the country of origin or inspiration right next to the name of the dish, so diners know exactly which pan-Latin influences come from, say, the Dominican Republic versus Nicaragua. Whatever featured secret ingredient US Foods brings to the pantry at Iron Fork, Aguilar and Cook are sure to take it for an international journey.