Day after

Well, it was a fabulous evening at Taste of the Town...Derby Style 2009! If you weren't there, you missed a delicious, entertaining fun-packed evening. Not only was the 135th Running of the Roses a giant upset with Mine That Bird beating the field handily to the tune of 50-1 odds, but the favored horse, Get My Revenge dropped out of the race early in the day!

The restaurants, bless their hearts, worked so hard and overjoyed the entire crowd with the sumptuous creations they brought to the table! Thank you so much to all of them:

The Old Fourth Street Filling Station
W-S Prime
Starbuck's
Heavenly Cheesecakes by Becky
Costco
First Street Draught House
NOMA
Blue Ridge Ice Creams
Sweet Potatoes
Sociale Gourmet
Downtown Thai
Village Tavern
Finnigan's Wake
Zevely House
The Piedmont Club
Caffe Prada
The Cake Ladies
Foothill's Brewing
Jimmy's Seafood and Oyster Bar
and Triad Community Kitchen
a program of the Second Harvest Food Bank

They all brought their "A" Game and our patrons as well as our professional judges had a great time deciding who was their favorite!

Our professional judges were Michael Hastings, Food Editor of the Winston-Salem Journal; Chef Al Romano, Instructor at GTCC; and Chef Derrick McCorkle of Winston-Salem State University.
They chose their favorite three participants in the following order:

Win-Triad Community Kitchen
Place-W-S Prime
Show-NOMA

Interestingly enough, none of the three have been at the Taste of the Town prior to this year! They were all outstanding. The items I tried from each of those were, beginning with NOMA, were their outstanding sliders and three cheese mac and cheese. It was wonderful!

At W-S Prime the Three Little Pigs sandwiches were my son's favorite. That was a no-brainer. On the baguette was a pork cutlet, shaved ham and bacon with Swiss to top it off.

I was at Triad Community Kitchen early on and they insisted I try their Peach Berry Cobbler. It was so different-a combination of peach and strawberry with a hint of something I couldn't name. I was informed it was jalapeno! A terrific combination for sure. And it was topped off with a crust that had a base of cornmeal-also unexpected! I loved it. They had several appetizer items I didn't get to try but obviously they were all homeruns!

Now for the voting by "the people". The People's Choice Awards went as follows:

Best Booth:
Win-Sociale Gourmet (with a Pirate Ship)
Place-The Old Fourth Street Filling Station with their giant chocolate fountain
Show-The Village Tavern who were cooking shrimp on the spot

Best Dessert:
Win-The Village Tavern
Place-Heavenly Cheesecakes by Becky
Show-Caffe Prada

Best Non-Dessert
Win-The Village Tavern
Place-Jimmy's Seafood and Oyster Bar
Show-NOMA

Best All Around:
Win-The Village Tavern
Place-Jimmy's Seafood and Oyster Bar
Show-NOMA

As always, The Village Tavern's Chef Anthony Bonner really knows how to please the customers! And I'd just like to give a shout out to Kenya at Jimmy's Seafood and Oyster Bar. Kenya works at Family Services also in our Safe Relationships Division and yesterday morning ran in the Race for the Cure! I'd say-job well done Kenya! And NOMA, keep on with that mac and cheese and the sliders, that is comfort food at its finest!

Finally, I haven't told you about the Kentucky Style Pie contest results. We had a great time with that this year. We've never done it before and we really learned a lot (especially about patent law-LOL). Judges were Michael Hastings and Jamie Hatter. The judging for the top three placings was done live on air with WXII's own Kimberly Van Scoy, Austin Caviness, Nichole Ducouer and of course Jennie Stencel! The winners of this year's Kentucky Style Pie Contest were:
Win-Jim Gilbert with an original recipe that included chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. It was so gooey and wonderful!
Place-Millie August
Show-Kim Via

Be sure to check out the Food Section of the Winston-Salem Journal on Wednesday in case Michael Hastings prints Jim's winning recipe. It's a keeper!

Thanks so much to all of our volunteers, our sponsors, our restaurants, and to all the Family Services staff who made this the Best Derby Party in Town! And don't think you've heard the last from me. I will have more tomorrow...or maybe Tuesday!

Downtown Thai

After 6 years of hard work and perseverance, Souphab Daohgang is moving his Downtown Thai restaurant across the street to 202 W. Fourth St. The new restaurant will be nearly 4,000 square feet and will seat 90 people, double the size of his current location.

When the new location opens in June or July, it will feature Sushi as well as the fabulous Thai cuisine we've all come to love. I didn't manage to get the name of the Sushi chef but Souphab did say he has 15 years of experience in major cities and is of Thai/Japanese heritage.

The new restaurant will feature daily specials, both Thai and Sushi and will be open for lunch and dinner. It will also have a conference room that will hold approximately 15 people and will be appointed with a screen, soundproofing, and computer access.

Souphab says that after Downtown Thai moves across the street, their current location will become a Vietnamese restaurant named Soup's Vietnamese "Pho" Restaurant. "Pho" is Vietnamese for soup. Obviously they will focus on soup (lots of noodles) but will also feature finger foods, wraps, and salads.

Eating at Downtown Thai is always a treat. I'm excited that Souphab is bringing his incredible green curry to Taste of the Town. My first year working with Taste, he brought the green curry and insisted I try it. I thought it would just be really hot. It was so delicious and full of deep flavor. I'd never tasted anything like that before! Check out their website at www.downtownthai.com and we'll see you tomorrow at the Taste of the Town...Derby Style!