Worcester's Best Chef 2012, part 1

We had a great adventure last night -- we went to Worcester's Best Chef competition at Mechanics Hall in Worcester. Eighteen chefs from around the Worcester area served their signature dishes to a huge crowd of attendees.

The event began at 5 pm for general ticket holders. Those who purchased the VIP tickets (us) were admitted an hour earlier for an opportunity to talk one-on-one with the chefs and have an earlier opportunity to sample the goods. The extra money was totally worth it for the VIP advantage. We got to mingle and taste at our leisure, mostly without lines and without being pushed around. If you plan to attend this event, I would definitely recommend the upgraded tickets.

We were really looking forward to two chefs in particular: Chef Andrew Hurd of Romaine's in Northborough and chef Dan O'Sullivan of Sonoma in Princeton. I'm sure both restaurants are ringing a bell, since I just blogged about them last week. Chef Hurd served braised beef over mashed potatoes and covered with gravy. I wish I had gotten a photo. It was amazing. The meat literally melted in your mouth. Aaaahhh... Chef O'Sullivan served a foie gras on crostini that was very good.

We also had the opportunity to try out some restaurants we've heard of but haven't been to. Included were Baba Sushi,  EVO, Nuovo, and Oliver Wight Tavern. We also enjoyed having food from places we have been to like Rovezzi's and Ceres. Ceres served a huge scallop that was good. Rovezzi's had an amazing tortelloni that was huge.

Now, I have to be honest. Not all the food was great. I threw away one dish after a small taste because it reminded me of dog food. A few others just didn't hit it for me (sliders, really?) for whatever reason. But, getting to try all the signature dishes and have favorites and not favorites was really fun!

Attendees voted for their favorite dishes. Those votes were tallied and the People's Choice award was presented to the top three. We each got to vote for 3 chefs. Here were my votes:

1. Chef Andrew Hurd, Romaine's
2. Chef Dan O'Sullivan, Sonoma
3. Chef Wilson Wang, Baba Sushi

(BTW, Mike's votes were similar to mine except he chose Nuovo for his #3.)

Stay tuned for the results of the competition... I'll have those and details of the rest of the event in my next post!