Alysha Brooke returns to the scene of her taco triumph on Sunday.
She brings tortillas, meat, rub and salsa to Southtown’s Gimme Gimme to defend a title she didn’t count on to win in opposition to competing cooks she considers associates.
“I’m solely in competitors with myself,” mentioned Brooke, chef de delicacies at Cullum’s Attaboy and winner of final 12 months’s Fajita Lounge Showdown. “I’m there to prepare dinner subsequent to associates and be with them. It’s not like we’re making an attempt to compete. We’re making an attempt to hang around and discuss and simply be collectively.”
The third annual Fajita Lounge Showdown, at 803 S. St. Mary’s St., will function Brooke and a powerhouse lineup of pleasant cooks slinging skirt steaks for an opportunity to win $500.
Rivals embrace cooks from Mixtli, Leche de Tigre, Bar Loretta, Bucán Rodeo, Rosa’s Kitchen, Buddy’s Massive Bother and The Pleasant Spot.
Doorways open at 5 p.m. The showdown begins at 6 p.m. Admission and tacos are free. Sure, free till the final taco is gone.
Plan to reach early. Gimme Gimme proprietor Aaron Peña expects a crowd of no less than 1,000, which might greater than double final 12 months’s turnout.
“This will probably be our largest one but,” Peña mentioned. “With this lineup, it’s shaping as much as be an enormous culinary occasion.”
How huge?
James Beard finalist Emil Oliva will work the grill for Leche de Tigre. Chef de delicacies Alex Cabrera will prepare dinner for Michelin-starred Mixtli. James Beard nominee Paul Peterson will characterize Bar Loretta.
Speak about star energy.
“Actually, it was tremendous simple to get them,” Peña mentioned. “They’re our associates and friends. We gave an invitation they usually accepted. We’re actually excited to have them and never simply due to their names – however as a result of we’re followers of what they do of their eating places.”
The primary showdown featured lesser recognized cooks and drew a couple of hundred folks. Brooke was requested to compete however declined. She’d solely been cooking for eight years and didn’t really feel prepared.
She agreed to compete within the second showdown however arrived with little confidence.
“I didn’t count on to win in any respect,” she mentioned.
Brooke noticed household and associates within the crowd and fired up the grill. She had a imaginative and prescient, a plan she meant to execute. At one level, she deviated from the plan, improvised and completed by really feel.
“After I obtained to the garnishes, I used to be at a loss,” she recalled. “I wasn’t certain precisely what I used to be doing or how I wished it to look.”
Cooking by intuition and really feel was not the plan. However then she tasted her creation and smiled. “I believed it was fairly stable.”
The judges agreed. They complimented Brooke on her taco’s stability, taste coordination and execution and awarded her first place.
The successful taco featured Peeler Farm skirt steak, a salt ‘n pepper coriander rub, a Nepal and tomatillo salsa, charred nopalito and corn.
Pleasure builds for this 12 months’s occasion. Brooke is raring to grill alongside her associates.
“I full-on respect all of those cooks,” she mentioned. “We eat at one another’s eating places on a regular basis.”
Peña organized the fajita showdown to carry cooks and foodies collectively. To construct group and have a great time. In time, he needs to raise the showdown into a large, must-attend occasion.
He imagines a crowd of hundreds gathering at a big venue.
“I hope it will get so huge we’ve got to maneuver it to a park,” he mentioned. “Like Rosedale Park, the place they maintain the Tejano Conjunto Pageant. I may see it going there.”
