January 26, 2005
Chili contest pleases palates
1,000 people sample 24 different chili recipes at annual downtown cookoff
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The chili was hot and the Park Place Dome was the cool place to be Saturday for the 11th Annual Downtown Chili Cookoff.
More than 1,000 people came to try 24 different kinds of chili offered by 13 area restaurants. From burn-your-mouth spicy to smoothly satisfying to experimental, there was a chili for every palate.
"The toughest part is to try and narrow it down," said Ron Robinson of Kewadin, a chili aficionado of long standing.
Robinson and his wife, Leah, enjoyed test-driving the different recipes and seeing what area restaurants can do. Over the years, the chili cookoff veterans have developed a strategy for maximizing their sampler box of eight cups.
"We look around and sometimes when you go to a booth that offers five types of chili, like the Big Eazy does, they'll give you a free sample of a different kind," he said.
Pete and Judy Dehr of Traverse City attended their first Traverse City cookoff Saturday, though the previous weekend found them in Bay Harbor trying some chili there.
"I just love chili," enthused Pete Dehr. "I pick them by the flavor and I like a good mix of flavors. It's rare that I don't like a chili - I'm adventurous eater and I'll try anything!"
There were lots of 'anythings' to try Saturday as restaurants pulled out all the stops: chili with smoked duck, chili with buffalo, cherries and prickly pear cactus, chili with crawfish. The old standbys weighed in, too, with a mix of beans, spices, vegetables and meat, or no meat in the case of the four vegetarian offerings.
Area chefs have a friendly rivalry among themselves to take home a coveted first place in one of eight categories: ethnic, no bean, seafood, vegetarian, white, 1-alarm, 2-alarm and 3-alarm. Every year, diners also vote on a People's Choice Award, which this year went to Minervas White Chili.
If they get a chance, the cooks and staffs from the participating restaurants make time to graze the competition.
"Auntie Pasta's has an excellent vegetarian chili that is out of this world, they've really got it down," said Duane Schwanke, general manager of Shelde's Grille and Spirits.
The event gave Schwanke, whose restaurant's 2-alarm steak chili took first place, his goal for next year:
"What we really want to beat next year is Minervas," he said. "We were kind of bummed that Freshwater Lodge's Duck chili didn't win, it was very interesting- I let them know that theirs was the best, even though I can't vote."
Shelde's 2-alarm winner is a classic recipe developed ten years ago by the restaurant's veteran kitchen manager Sharon Parrish. Except for the cookoff, the restaurant no longer offers the chili to customers but it is a stalwart competitor and crowd pleaser every year at the event. Attendees devoured 12 gallons of the concoction on Saturday.
"We came close to running out of the steak chili and I had to run back to the restaurant to get more, I just got back as she was scraping the bottom," said Schwanke, who also brought eight gallons of vegan confetti chili to the event.
The 11th Annual Downtown Chili Cookoff had a huge jump in attendance, up from 600 people last year. This could be due in part to the larger venue, noted Colleen Paveglio, marketing director for the Downtown Development Authority.
"I heard that last year when people came at the Holiday Inn some of them just turned away, it was so crowded," she said, noting that the increased revenue benefits the community by helping fund events sponsored by the Downtown Traverse City Association, including Friday Night Live and holiday activities