Last night, Daytona's in Thunder Bay, hosted Yo Chef! Round 4. It's a wonderful event that essentially pits some of Thunder Bays' best chefs against one another, by preparing dishes for a select panel of local judges. As I mentioned above, it took place at Daytona's, just like the previous events, and it as an absolute packed house. That's the important part too because the all the proceeds go towards Our Kids Count of Thunder Bay.
Admittedly, when The Walleye asked me to cover the event I had absolutely no clue what to expect. I tried to do a bit of research online to find out what it was all about, but even doing that, didn't answer all of my questions. So, with that being said, I kind of when in blindly, which I think ended up working out for the best.
As far as I know, the general concept stays the same between rounds but I believe there are certain surprises each round too, that the chef's don't know about. In this case, 4 chefs competed, for three different rounds. The catch for each round was that they had to use certain items presented to them just before they were too cook. So, it really put their ability to adapt to any ingredient to the test. I wasn't able to try the food of course, but by the looks of it and the reaction of all the judges, they did an amazing job. In the second round, which was the main course, they had the challenge of having a helper from the crowd assist them in cooking. At one point, each chef had to take a step back and let the helper do all the work, with only the ability to talk them through it.
All in all, it was such a fun and chaotic evening for a great cause. I am so happy that I was able to be a part of it. I'll definitely be looking to cover the next event. The hardest part of the entire evening for me however, was smelling all the wonderful dishes coming out of the kitchen and not being able to try any!
