In the town of Worcester, Massachusetts, which is close to where I live, we have for a number of years had an art exhibit aptly titled “Art in the Park” in Elm Park. The installations for this exhibit are imaginative and truly impressive.
One of the fun aspects of this exhibit is that it’s a great opportunity to do some different photography, as these works of art can be very inspiring. There have even been competitions for photography that captures these art works well and in unique ways.
Water Rings
This installation of shiny objects is called Water Rings and created by local artist Lisa Barthelson, whose work is extremely imaginative and can be seen in numerous exhibits within our area.
This post was inspired by the WordPress Daily Post prompt of Shine.
As promised, I will share some more photos from the Worcester’s Best Chef Competition event that was held on January 31st. I hope that you enjoy some of the flavor that I’m bringing to you in this post!
Chef in action!
In this first shot, you see Chef Anthony Bairos in action, cooking his dish in front of attendees, who are eagerly awaiting a taste.
Quail was delicious
Speaking of dishes, one of my favorites was this quail dish; it was cooked to perfection, and so good that I came back for seconds!
Perfect tenderloin
Not to be missed was the tenderloin with quinoa and delectable sauce, which just about flew off the serving table.
A little sangria
Of course, with all that great food, one might get a little thirsty, which can be taken care of at many stations, such as here with sangria.
Dessert is served!
No meal should be considered complete without some dessert. Culinary students from several local high schools created wonderful desserts to compliment the other offerings.
Something a little different for this edition of the Shot of the Week. It probably won’t happen too often that some of my event photography work merits being Shot of the Week.
When looking back to this past week of photography, there were some good candidates, one of which will make the line-up for tomorrow, but this one stood out in the way it captured a moment in time.
I took this photo during my coverage of the Worcester’s Best Chef Competition, which was a lot of fun. What I captured was the ebullience of Chef Wilson Wang of Baba Sushi in Worcester, MA, as he is feeding one of the attendees! Some of the chefs are a bit more reserved, as they are hard at work preparing their dishes, but Chef Wilson’s attitude typifies the mood of the event: great food and lots of fun!
As many of you know, this past Sunday I had the pleasure of photographing the Worcester’s Best Chef Competition.
The stage is set!
This was the 9th edition of this annual event, which has become extremely popular with everybody in the area, who might be in the mood for trying some extreme gourmet bites prepared by the best local chefs.
The event is broken down into a couple of phases. A limited ticket sales VIP phase allows those folks who want it a little quieter to enjoy the delicacies during the first hour of the event.
Chef Ken Zhang focused on the task!
This is followed by the open tasting time, which lasts about two hours. By the end of this time, all votes for the attendees’ favorite dishes need to have been cast.
There was an abundant variety of amazing offerings from local restaurants, ranging from quail to scallops, tenderloin, just too many to list here (I will share some photos of a number of the dishes in a future post).
The line for just about every restaurant booth was long, but that was no reason to be deterred, as there was plenty of food for all attendees.
Chef Christopher Bairos adds honey
Next, the judges’ choice and people’s choice award winners are announced, as well as the dessert competition winners; the latter competition is between regional high schools that have culinary programs. The desserts were excellent!
Then the grand finale event kicks off: an Iron Chef style 30 minute cooking competition with ingredients from a mystery basket!
This year, most of the ingredients were locally sourced with a winter squash, lamb and local cheese, as the key elements.
Chef Bill Nemeroff plates
It always amazes me, how much these talented chefs can accomplish in a mere 30 minutes. They didn’t even look rushed, as it didn’t come down to the last couple of seconds to get their dishes on the 7 plates for the judges.
There were several approaches taken by the chefs in tackling the ingredients to come up with a cohesive dish. The winter squash was the first item for each chef to prepare, as it takes the longest to cook to a point where it becomes ready for a plate.
During the competition, you could tell that each chef came to certain decision points, where they weighed their options. The chef would either stand for some second contemplating their next step, or go over to the pantry to look for inspiration in the great stock of ingredients.
As I had the privilege of being able to photograph the competition on stage, I also had the pleasure of enjoying the aromas that were being developed in each chef’s dish; I’m sure each dish tasted as good as it smelled.
Eating in judgment!
After the judges, some of whom are previous Worcester’s Best Chef Competition winners, finished tasting and conferring, Chef Bill Nemeroff of the International Golf Club and resort in Bolton, MA, was declared the winner.
Congratulations to all chefs, as each performed magnificently!
This Sunday, I have the privilege to be one of the photographers, who will be covering the annual Worcester Best Chef event and competition at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA.
Chef Brian Treitman in Battle Mode
The event attracts the best restaurants and chefs in the area to dazzle everyone with their finest offerings. The tasting is spread out over multiple floors within the beautiful facility, and the attendees not only get to taste what local restaurants can do, but also get to vote for there favorites.
Plenty of Ingredients
After the voting, the competition commences between the top vote recipient and two other chefs, who are selected by the judges based on what they tasted earlier in the day. In true Iron Chef style, the three chefs battle each other on stage to come up with their finest dish within 30 minutes.
The winner is determined by a panel of esteem judges, and gets the trophy and prestige of being Worcester’s Best Chef for that year!
Cleaning Up
The event is fun for all and nobody goes away hungry, given the smorgasbord of delectable food! If you want to find out more about this event, please check the Worcester Best Chef web-site at Worcester Best Chef.
If you’re lucky, there might still be a couple of tickets available, as attendance has been outstanding each year; the local gourmets flock to the event in droves, as you’re not going to get bette food anywhere in the area.
Hope you enjoy some of the images from past years, and I’ll be sure to post some after Sunday.
Dutch goes the Photo! 