Tapas challenge 2011!

Our restaurant will be taking part in a local food event next week and as our chef will be out of town that day, he created a contest to see who would go in his place and represent The National. We all created a tapas item that featured local products and served them for family meal this afternoon. Some of the dishes create included:

Darby Farm Deviled eggs ~ A deviled egg! With chicken! mustardy, spicy, filling, easy to pop in your mouth in one or two bites with the sweetness of a little local tomato on top. These guys ended up winning the competition. Congrats Coby!

Pork Belly and Peach Relish on a Crispy Pita Point ~ Sweet and spicy with an almost Asian feel. Perfectly crisp pita and a sprig of local arugula added a little crunch and bitterness, rounding out the taste nicely. David's dish was considered the "runner-up."

I made a panzanella salad with local peaches, blueberries, heirloom tomatoes, and jamon serano tossed with basil and sherry vinaigrette featuring a little wedge of some wonderful local cheese, a gouda from Sweet Grass Dairy in southern GA.

Other entries included an adorable little stuffed onion of sorts that I sadly did not get a chance to taste and some simple but beautiful skewers of summer fruits (including pickled blueberries, yum) in a lemon balsamic.

My phone recently had an unfortunate run in with liquid and the camera has been acting up so I only managed to snag pictures of my own and the winner but I hope you can imagine the tasty-ness that we created today! If you are local make sure to come see us and all the other participants at the Taste Your Place Event on July 21st at Cine. Don't forget to check out all the other PLACE events in the following weeks as well.