Northeast Pennsylvania District Cookoff by Audrey Falkowski
It was a beautiful day on Saturday for the Northeast Pennsylvania District Cookoff at Lake Ariel. The Lake Ariel Fire Company, even answering 2 minor calls, really pitched in and did a great job with setting up and then selling some delicious pirogues, hot dogs and nachos and beer to enhance the chili. Chairpersons Jim and Sandi Miller, chili cooks themselves, had their whole family helping and they worked tirelessly getting sponsors and then selling tasting kits and even helping with the scorekeeping. Dave Lorenz kept tight reins on the judging area, assisted by Steve Falkowski. We had a great day and the cooks enjoyed watching a competitive eating contest put on by E.A.T.O.R.S., a competitive group in PA. The afternoon was capped off with the crowd listening to the Robb Taylor Band.
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The Results:
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Salsa: 9 entries
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5th – Cathy Cueto, PA
4th – Mike Freedman, CT Lost tie for 3rd place
3rd – Jenny Windsor, PA
2nd – Chip Welsh, PA
1st – Lew Wheeling, PA
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Chili Verde: 8 entries
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Tie for 4th, not broken:
Doug Johnson, PA
Judy Omerza, PA
3rd – Dave Schulman, CT Lost tie for 2nd place
2nd – Jim Heywood, NY
1st – Lew Wheeling, PA
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Red Chili: 13 entries
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Tie for 4th, not broken:
Chip Welsh, PA
Kathy Freedman, CT
3rd – Lew Wheeling, PA Lost tie for second place
2nd – Jenny Windsor, PA
1st – Rhone Carr, NJ
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Congratulations to all the winners. Great job, Jim and Sandi.
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COOKS CORNER BAR & PUB REGIONAL (formerly Garden Grove Elks)
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JULY 7TH
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This cookoff originally held in Fillmore for years on July 4th moved to the Garden Grove Elks chaired by Don Hammes. The cookoff is moving this year to a great new venue - Cook's Corner Bar & Pub in Trabuco Canyon. Parking isn't far away from the booth site, but you may want to bring a cart. There will be help for anyone who needs it.
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The address for Map Quest is 19152 Santiago Road, Trabuco Canyon, CA 92679
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We're looking forward to seeing all of you there. It promises to be a really good day. If you have any questions, please contact Rhonda@cookscorners.com, Don Hammes at RATSHACK2@aol.com or ics@chilicookoff.com.
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COOKS CORNER BAR & PUB REGIONAL
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Directions to the cook off are as follows:
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405 Fwy to El Toro Rd, go away from the ocean about 7 miles and you will run right into us we are at the corner of El Toro and Live Oak Canyon Rd.
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24th Annual Route 66 Regional by Paul Whitney
June 9 was a fantastic day for a cookoff. Woke up to a very brisk 39 degrees, but by the time I headed out to Thorpe Park, the temperature had risen significantly. Within minutes of opening the park gates, I was greeted by the first cook to arrive, Brian Burgoz, son of Ol' Blue, who used to be a fixture at Arizona cookoffs. The rest soon followed along with crafters and everyone got set up. After spending the whole week stressing and pretty much forcing my wife Sarah to cook for the first time ever, we found we had made our twenty and would again be a regional in 2008, our Silver Anniversary year. We sailed through the health inspection and this year we had Marlene, the toughest inspector in Coconino County, so you cooks should be damn proud of yourselves. An old friend, Kevin Whitenack, former Arizona State Chairman, got back into cooking at this event and it was sure nice to see him again. Cooks and judges were in from Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Idaho, Nevada, California and Arizona. Our new Chief Judge and Scorekeeper, Bob and Louise Dinnewith, did a fantastic job and had a lot of support with them, which helped me get out of the park the earliest ever when the day was done. Thank you both for doing such a fine job. The judges up here in Flagstaff always pick great winners and this year was no exception. In Salsa, it was 3rd place, Kevin Foley from Galveston, TX, 2nd place was his wife Donna, and winning was Kay Rook from Denver, CO. In the Chili Verde, 3rd place was Mark Haught from Pahrump, NV, 2nd was local Dave Wright and winning was Eddie LaCross from Peoria, AZ. In a hard fought competition for Traditional Red Chili, Mike Ford of La Mirada, CA beat out Bill Kost of Pine, AZ in a tiebreaker for 3rd place and Kevin Foley lost out in the tiebreaker for first to Eddie LaCross. As mentioned, 2008 will be our 25th Annual, Silver Anniversary Cookoff. There will be special shirts, special prize money and a great time to be had. Please plan now on joining us next year for our special event. And of course, it will be Back to Back with the 37th Annual Arizona State Championship, hosted extremely well by the Mazatzal Casino in Payson. And their beautiful new hotel will be ready by then to host the cooks on Saturday night. Best of luck the rest of this year, Paige, Sarah and I will see you out on the trail or in Omaha.
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2008
Thanks to everyone that came this year. We wish that we had more time to chat with everyone - which is just another reason to ride the boat on Friday night.
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Just a quick note to let you know that next year will be May 30th (boat), 31st & June 1st.
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The La Quinta is awaiting your phone call -- 712-347-6595 - at the same rate as this year.
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Thanks again !! Hope you can all make it back !!
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Sue & Bill Dudzik
Toucan Chew Chili
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