by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
This year’s installment of the Metro Cooking and Entertaining Show delivered in a big way. It’s hard to imagine any of the thousands of attendees being disappointed with the blend of shopping, sipping and tasting that was united among the culinary rock show of megastar chefs. There was the James Beard stage. There were cookbook authors galore. And nobody could ignore this year’s headliners, Iron Chef Bobby Flay and the king of grocery games, Guy Fieri.
Guy Fieri
This year’s show featured more than 300 specialty food exhibitors and vendors as well as a number of food and beverage workshops to help elevate the most dedicated home cooks. This year also featured another iteration of “Operation Home Cooking” — a special demonstration for military spouses and family members. Guest chef Chris Kyler, an alumnus of Food Network’s Next Food Network Star and a former member of the U.S. Navy, kept all the military family members in good spirits with an infectious personality and an upbeat presentation.
Chris Kyler
Kyler wasn’t the only one rocking the celebrity theater stage though, Fieri and Flay managed to keep the energy of the whole weekend at a steady cadence. Flay stormed the stage with his normal decisive and sharp style. His expertise in making pan seared chicken and a vegetable paella had the entire audience chomping at the bit. Of course, the meal wouldn’t be a complete without a fresh and fruity pitcher of sangria.
Bobby Flay
Master of Diners, Drive ins and Dives, Guy Fieri also captured the crowd with his humor and humility–giving away as many items as he could to audience members, including offers of butter or raw meat if it would entertain. Fieri drafted local radio personality Tommy McFly into the cooking lesson as his sous chef during his afternoon demo after the DJ introduced him on stage. The pair ended up more like Laurel and Hardy than Julia Child, with a number of spills and snarky remarks as they stuffed pork chops and brúleed bananas for a boozy milkshake.
In both cases, the chefs proved to sold out crowds just what keeps people coming back to MetroCookingDC, it’s more than chefs, it’s more than just food, it’s the whole experience top to bottom of why people love to cook. I’m sure DC’s foodies are already eagerly anticipating next year.
Take a look at some clips from the shows and go behind the scenes with Guy Fieri:
