Iron Fork presented by Dallas Observer

The first annual Iron Fork event was this past Wednesday at the Fashion Industry Gallery. It was presented by Whole Foods and Dallas Observer and MC'd by Chef Kent Rathbun.

http://microapp.dallasobserver.com/ironfork/2011/index.php


It featured a bunch of local restaurants as well as a Chef Competition Iron Chef style between Scott Romano (Charlie Palmer) and Gilbert Garza (Suze), moderated by Chef Rathbun. They had to use a secret ingredient which was revealed to be California Avocados.

General Admission tickets at the door were $35 but I got the Observer deal for $12!! Woot! What a killer deal! The ticket gets you in the door and access to unlimited food and drinks from the Participating Restaurants. VIP tickets were $50 and they featured a few more restaurants and get to go in an hour earlier. And you also get some goodie bags.

I heard on the radio that morning that they had sold over 900 tickets. Sounds like the event is gonna be packed!! And it was... There was a long line when we arrived at 7PM, but they got everyone in pretty quickly. And you don't waste any time...you get right to the foods! :)

PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS: (this is in order of my sampling...)

Dine with the King Designs: Chocolate Pecan Pie. This turned out to be my favorite dessert of the night. It was also the only table where I went back for seconds! I've never heard of them but if you ever come across them, get some pie!!

Gojo Ethiopian Restaurant: Lentil or Chicken Puffs. I only tried the Lentil one. It was pretty tasty!
Bambu: fish cake with sweet/spicy sauce. Didn't care for it too much...

Snappy Salads: Asian salad with fried wonton & wasabi peas; lemon cookie. The lemon cookie was really good. I resisted taking more...

Herrera's: Pork tacos with hot sauce, pico de gallo, guacamole; Pecan Praline; Chicken & Beef taquitos. The taquitos were a little dry...dipped in guac was much better. The tacos were a tad sweet. They were alright. The praline was pure sugar. Ick!
Zen Baking Co.: Breadpudding w/ Raspberry; Chocolate Bacon Cupcake; Cake balls, PB & Nutella Cookie Sandwich; Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich; Brownie. This was one of the best tables of the night. There were sooo many options...I tried to fit as many as I could on a plate. hahaha. The bacon cupcake was AWESOME! It was full of bacon pieces. YUM! All the other desserts were great as well.
Panyu's Fresh Asian Cuisine: Fried Lotus Chip topped with Ahi Tuna; Marinated Beef wrapped around Pickled Daikon & Carrots. This was one of my friend's favorite. I was impressed with the large chunks of tuna on each plate but it was missing some salt. A little bland...

Boba Latte: Guava Fusion Tea; Black Tea; Jasmine Tea; boba. I tried the Guava Fusion Tea...never had it before. I liked it! I love guava!

El Centro: Walnut Fudge Brownies. These were gooey and chocolatey. It was hard not to eat too much cuz I had to save room for all the other stuff!

Il Cane Rosso: Caprese Kebabs, homemade mozzarella. This was really fresh and I heard they made the mozzarella in house. It was super fresh!

Torchy's Tacos: Sesame Seed flecked Ahi Tuna Nacho. I liked this ahi tuna better than Panyu's. I liked their chip better and I guess the sauce on top added a lot more flavor.

House of Blues: Corn Bread. I didn't try these...

J Black's Feel Good Lounge: Bruschetta with Prosciutto and sweet relish. YUCK! I threw it away after one bite. The bread seemed stale and that dollop of cheese on top just didn't go well... Worst of the night for me.

Bars were set up all around the venue. It was unlimited wine and cocktails!

Dallas Chophouse: Steak Tartare with Parmesan. Missing seasoning...bland...

Kenichi: Crab Ceviche? Also yuck. It was sooo fishy... :(

Sweet Tomatoes: Molten Lemon Cake. I really liked this! I'm not a lemon fan but this dessert was good!

Crawdad's! of Dallas: Crawfish. I didn't know how to eat this without a place to sit. Thought it was interesting that there was crawfish there though. haha.

Mozzarella Company: bread with homemade mozzarella with a layer of Pesto. The mozzarella was super fresh, but needed more flavor.

Dive Coastal: Key Lime Pie; Ceviche with Plantain Chip. I only tried the key lime pie. It was creamy and fresh and yummy.

Pizza by Marco: It was cold by the time we got to it...but still good!

Woodfire Kirby's: Pulled Roast Duck. By far the best savory dish of the night! The duck was sooo tender and juicy!

Chameli: Traditional Style Chicken Biryani. I only got 1 chunk of chicken with my rice but I liked it a lot. Lots of spices and the chicken was super tender.

Lockhart Smokehouse: brisket. Not as moist as I would like, but nice smoky flavor.

Nothing Bundt Cake: White chocolate Raspberry; Lemon; Chocolate Chocolate Chip; Red Velvet. LOVE THEM!! Of course the cakes were amazing! :)

SPONSORS: (there were a lot of others...)
- Avion Tequila (free shots)
- Fuze

VIP:
Chocolate Secrets: Liquor Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate Covered Raspberries. I had a friend that was in VIP. I got to try one of the truffles. YUM!

IRON FORK COMPETITION:
Scott Romano won with his Avocado Scotch Egg (egg covered with avocado then deep fried).

Gilbert Garza made Scallops with Avocado Puree.

I wish I got to try some of these...

I'd say this event was a success! It was jam packed with people and everyone had a great time! I would say for the most part the sweets definitely trumped the savory dishes. I really hope they do it again next year! I hope they pick a bigger venue though. Hehe.

Overall Event:


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