By: Carisha J.
Anyone who loves to eat, loves the experience of trying delicious freshly made gourmet food from top of the line chefs. Owner of ‘The Pantry Atl’, Brady Lowe and Maxim Magazine heated things up a notch hosting this kitchen – cook off and bar competition starring Chef Mendin and Craig Richards with music by DJ Lord. Both Brady and DJ Lord have started a Café Quarantine during the Pandemic to incorporate great food and live music with their supporters. The bar competition included a punch off to see who could whip up the best cocktail. Both Chefs also were live from their Instagram pages as well which created a fun show for people to tune in for. The judges were each sat bar style and enjoyed being catered to by each chef serving their best dishes. The atmosphere was quite lively, and all the guests were upbeat and enjoying the event. The competition highlighted aquaculture, great chefs, the best bar keeps and DJ Lord of Public Enemy. The event was live streamed on Maxim Magazine’s Facebook page with several fans tuned in and watching everything go down in real time.
Chef Mendin from Miami was one for the books with his hibachi lobster dish and said it is the most sustainable seafood. The 2x winning food champ in Miami says he enjoys cooking with lobster. He flew into Atlanta to be a part of this competition which was inspired to set the bar in the culinary industry, especially pushing plant-based food. He and Craig Richards the 2nd chef in the competition, met in Miami and have been friends for a few years now both having a huge love for the art of cooking. A&R of Familiar Territory Records, Digital ‘Ro’ Dope, 1 of the judges for the competition said that everything was amazing, and the plates had a wide variety of ingredients with a lot of time put into it. Craig Richards who is from Atlanta, created a mouthwatering lobster dish brushed with a Japanese Togarashi butter and pressed in sesame seed, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds and plated over a corn and vegetable puree.
The judges were using score cards to pick 1 winning bar keep who had the best fish-house punch and the chef with the best dish. They were judging on presentation, sustainability, food taste and could also give out bonus points.
This was the 1st Fish House Competition in Atlanta, Ga and if you missed it, do not be sad because this is just the beginning. Follow https://www.thepantryatl.com/ for more upcoming events. The drink feature choices were between a Wheatley Vodka or Buffalo Trace Bourbon. Ryan Smith from Macon made a amazing ‘Sophisticated Bitch Punch’ with his signature ‘Smitty Mix’ of grapefruit juice, lime juice, allspice graham, brown sugar, syrup, rum fire, caramelized sugar, tea, and Barbados Rum aged in Cognac. Fish House Punch made a name for itself in the 1700’s as being a very strong cocktail. The cooks choose between Lobster and Red Snapper for their dish selections. Everyone apart of this outstanding event did an excellent job on their delivery, and after the votes were tallied, the winners were announced. The winning bar keep was Ryan Smith for his Fish House Punch. He was awarded with a golden fish and a miniature barrel of whiskey. The winning chef was Chef Mendin. Look at the entertaining live stream below.