A crowd of 500 guests turned out for Monday's "The Truffle Masters" culinary throwdown hosted by Houston-based luxury food importer DR Delicacy at swank downtown hotel, C. Baldwin, Curio Collection by Hilton at 400 Dallas St.
No ordinary food competition, the sixth annual event featured decadent bites made with fresh black truffles created by more than 25 of Houston's hottest restaurants.
Participants included The Original Ninfa's on Navigation; Tris; La Lucha; Guard & Grace; Degust; Izakaya; Eculent; Killen's STQ; PoitÃn; Eunice; Le Colonial; Broken Barrel; Rosalie Italian Soul; and 1751 Sea and Bar.
Also cooking up a storm were chefs from La Table, Roka Akor; a'bouzy; Kiran's; MAD/BCN Taste & Tradition; Maison Pucha; Ristorante Cavour at Hotel Granduca; Mastro's; Terrace 54 Bar + Table at The Westin Houston Medical Center; The Annie Café and Bar; and Fresco Cafe Italiano.
Top honors at the food extravaganza were decided by a panel of judges including Pat Sharpe (Texas Monthly), Kate McLean (Houston Press), Katherine Whaley (KTRK), Eric Sandler (CultureMap) and Phaedra Cook (Houston Food Finder), who based their marks on flavor, presentation, creativity and the use of truffles.
The judges awarded first place to MAD/BCN Taste & Tradition. The sister restaurants teamed up to present a dish featuring truffle wild mushrooms with truffle cream and trufas voladoras (flying truffles).
La Table placed second with its black truffle-cheese mousse, while Degust ranked third for its Japanese milk bread.
Attendees also played an important role by voting for their favorite dish in the battle of the People's Choice award. Partygoers were head-over-heels for the sweet corn pansoti from La Lucha restaurant.
Enjoying the evening were event emcee Michael Garfield, KTRK reporter Miya Shay, Nick Scurfield, Tiffani Halik, Lisa Gochman and Crystin Pactor.
For an inside look at Monday evening's event, see above.
Marcy de Luna is a reporter. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna.
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