BK Food Experiment: The Omikase of Amateur Chefs

On Sunday, we attended this year’s Food Experiment championships at the Brooklyn Brewery, an annual competition to crown the best amateur chef in the nation. The $45 tix bought us unlimited Brooklyn Brewery beer, along with the tastiest “bites” from 15 stellar cooks across the country (and one from Sweden!). Sven called it the “omikase” of the nation’s best amateur chefs 🙂

The best part was our cousin Kelly was competing as the Jersey City champ! Here’s a pic of the “bite” that he and his partner, Max, created, cleverly named The Ox, the Moon, and the Chinese Spoon. Their team, BITE ME, ended up placing 3rd in the audience vote!

Check out their creative description of the dish (look left).

Each of the winners from 15 individual city competitions was flown to Brooklyn for the final contest on December 16, also referred to as the World Series or Stanley Cup of amateur cooks.

So many of the chefs were sooo into it–it was endearing to listen to them explain with tireless enthusiasm every last detail that went into their beloved creations to every new taster who came along. Most were flustered and apologetically overwhelmed (yet glowingly exuberant!!) when we arrived at their table with our plates outstretched. I guess it was a challenge and somewhat of a monumental feat to create enough “bites” for 375 eager tasters, each with 1 precious vote to give.

One of my favorite little touches was the oxtail necklaces that Team BITE ME made…

…and the old school Jaws toy they used to display their dumpling.