Marcio Florez Wins the Scene’s 17th Annual Iron Fork

The Nashville Scene’s 17th annual Iron Fork competition took a new approach this year, moving from the spring to the fall and taking place at new Madison event venue Harken Hall. 

As always, Thursday’s event featured four talented Nashville chefs (well, technically five this year, as one of our competitors was a team of two) duking it out in a competition to impress our panel of judges. The judges included longtime Scene contributors Carrington Fox and Chris Chamberlain, past Iron Fork champion Hrant Arakelian of Vega and Lyra, and US Foods rep and TV personality Garrett Pittler. This year’s secret ingredient? Glass noodles.

Despite some minor technical difficulties that were navigated relatively smoothly — it wouldn’t be a live event without one or two of those — our chefs rose to the occasion. Dung “Junior” Vo (Noko, Kase x Noko, Noko Yaki), Alfredo Bueno (888), Marcio Florez (Limo Peruvian Eatery), and Ana Aguilar and Joshua Cook (Tantísimo) presented four diverse plates to our judges. They also each prepared a spare plate that was auctioned off at the end of the night, with proceeds benefiting Celebrate Nashville. (Special shoutout to Ana, who gave birth to the couple’s first child just nine days before the competition.) The event was hosted by local media personality Jerome Moore and yours truly. 

With a one-hour time limit and staggered start times, our chefs raided the pantry and got to work. Ultimately, each chef put together a dish that showcased his or her unique talents while also incorporating glass noodles: Vo made a “surf-and-turf” dish featuring pork butt and lobster; Florez created a lobster causa with a pan-seared ají curry scallops; Cook and Aguilar prepared a coconut fish tostada with radicchio slaw (and a reposado tequila shooter, which was a nice touch); and Bueno made a coconut-basil scallop dish with yuzu and vegetables. 

Ultimately, Florez’s dish won out, though the judges tell us it was a tight race. 

A big thank-you to our sponsors, our charitable partners, our judges and our chefs. See photos of Thursday’s action from Angelina Castillo and Eric England above.