Eating for A Good Cause. As If I Needed One.

I was "this" close! (plus or minus a little zoom lens action)

Last night I got to (not meet) be in the same room with Anthony Bourdain! Padma Lakshmi! Andrew Zimmern! Carla Hall! plus Jose Andres, Mike Isabella, and lots of other great local chefs at the Capital Food Fight which benefited DC Central Kitchen. On top of the food geek eye candy that was everywhere, add in a weeknight date with my hubby, 60 DC area chefs passing out samples of their signature dishes, an open bar with no lines, and an Iron Chef style competition, and you can imagine what an amazing night it was for me.

Gorgeous desserts on a stick

Mini spicy pork tacos

The food was as beautiful as it was delicious. It was a night for showing off and the chefs did not disappoint. Highlights included savory braised short ribs on a potato puree, hamachi in a spicy Thai chili broth, celery waffles with duck confit and cotton candy (I loved it and it's weirdness, but the husband didn't), carmelized figs with ricotta and honey and gorgonzola panna cotta served in hollowed out egg shells with candied celery and bacon on top.

On top of the over-the-top food, 4 local chefs competed in an Iron Chef battle (won by Jeff Buban from Vidalia) which we somehow snagged ringside seats for. The secret ingredients were honeycrisp apples for the first battle and oyster mushrooms for the second. In a surprise battle, Anthony Bourdain went up against Andrew Zimmern with the unbelievable secret ingredient - iguana! If you have ever wondered what a dead, skinned iguana looks like, well, it looks like a bright pink iguana-shaped raw chicken. Disgusting.

After the iguana competition was over, we headed back out for a final round of drinks and food sampling before the glutenous evening came to an end. One last shredded pork taco. One last mushroom and goat cheese panini. One last lemon cardamom ice cream cone and that oughtta do it.