Just Call me Judge Natalie

Word must really be getting out about how much of a food enthusiast I am.  Recently I was invited to be a judge at the first annual Southshore Sizzle, which is a Lake Minnetonka Iron Chef style competition benefiting the ICA Food Shelf.  Four Lake Minnetonka restaurants went head to head to compete for the Golden Cleaver Award.

Competing restaurants were:

Ike's Minnetonka
318 Cafe
Joey Nova's
Hazellewood Grille

My claim to fame as a local food enthusiast is that I was the first Excelsior resident to eat one of everything at our local European Bakery, Patisserie Margo.  At least I'm pretty sure this is why I was invited to sit at the judges table with National Meteorologist Paul Douglas, MyTalk 107.1 Talk Show Host Bradley Traynor, Around Town TV Host Carla Beaurline and President of InVision Optical Anthony Bosca.

Senior Editor from Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine Melinda Nelson, was the emcee of the evening.  The woman is just a hoot and a half!

Sizzle Judges with Emcee Melinda Nelson

Because I was going to be eating a decent amount of food, and drinking as much free wine as I could get my hands on, I wore my tried and true compression garment known as Spanx under a dress that was forgiving in the waist area. Nothing helps you remember to keeps your Abs in, and encourages good posture like full body Spanx.

I digress, this is supposed to be about the Southshore Sizzle, not how I hold in my muffin top.  The participating chefs were able to choose ingredients from a table and were given the "secret" ingredient, which was Filet Mignon, along with an Italian sausage.

 I have to be honest. I lobbied for the secret ingredient to be one of my all time favorite meats, Spam.  Being from Hawaii I've had a lifelong love affair with this succulent canned meat. Needless to say my idea was shot down, which I thought was surprising being that Spam is produced here in Minnesota.

As judges we were given a dish that each Chef put together.  We judged each based on Taste, Presentation, and Originality.  Though all were delicious, one stood out.  The winner was Joey Nova's, who happened to be the underdog.  Here are the judges, emcee and the team from Joey Nova's.

I had such a great time taking part in this event. I've now judged a cooking competition and pageants, so my judging resume has really expanded.  Though, I think I prefer these cooking competitions over judging Pageants because the food is better.  

It was a bonus that my bio was read correctly at this event. During one of the pageants I judged, as I turned facing and waving to the crowd, the emcee announced that I was a "Popular Lake Minnetonka Communist!"  The sheet said "Columnist".  I just shrugged my shoulders and took my seat. I figured I'd been called worse.