And the Golden Fork winner is....

I felt all "big city like" at the Battle of the Golden Fork Showdown last night. There were tents with vendors, music, food, drinks and people in costumes downtown on Texas Street, and it felt great! Almost Bourbon Street-ish and before you disagree with me, I said "almost." Ha!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. Although I received compensation in exchange for writing this post, the views, experiences and opinions are 100% all mine.

As a first time Prize Festivalgoer, an important lesson was learned; get there early! By the time I arrived, there was standing room only at the tent where the "Chopped" style competition took place. Hosts Tom Ramsey & Troy Johnson, kept the crowd in stitches and on edge while giving us a play-by-play as the chefs created AMAZING dishes out of a mystery basket of ingredients, hand picked by Slow Food North Louisiana.

The competing chefs were (from left to right): Jacob Dowlen Mouser, Eleazar Mondragon, Melissa Stewart, John Strand and George Beaird. There were lots of ups and downs, twists and turns during the 45 minute competition, but it would all come down to the taste buds, culinary critic and majority vote of 4 celebrity guest judges.

Gregory Kallenberg led us in the 10 second countdown before the judges went to deliberate.

Chef Ramsey assured us that it was a tough decision; they voted 3 times! Last year's winner Chef Blake Johnson came out to present the Golden Fork Award to this year's winner, and the crowd went wild when Chef Eleazar Mondargon of Ki' Mexico was named as the winner. It was an awesome moment, here are a few shots.

Later that evening, the celebrity chef judges headed over to Parish Taceaux and had a Popup Taco Night where they created delicious, unique tacos. This was perfect because I'm sure everyone had worked up an appetite after watching the completion (and/or needed to soak up some alcohol)! The tacos were all so delicious and flavorful. Gosh, I wish I had one of each right now!!

Top Row: Ground venison with pickled pumpkin, roasted red pepper crema & cilantro.
Cuban sandwich burrito.