The Takedown

Emily Hanhan won the Chile Chocolate Takedown at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Here is the true story of how!!

The legend of Emily Hanhan: One day, 6 wandering paladins betook upon themselves an incredible journey with one terrible goal: to defeat the mighty 3-headed Ventimazualicon, a venomous upper-worldly cousin of the dreaded Cerberus, guard of the netherworld!!! In hard core combat!!! There was Greg Erskine, a kilted warrior and enemy of all foes!  There was Melissa Sands, a sorceress of great power who could summon earth, wind and ocean as weapons to massacre whole villages of their lives in the blink of an eye of a whirlwind!!!  There was Adrian Ashby, a time traveler!!! and uncompromising killer of men and beast and whatever else.  And there was Jenn de la Vega, who, though of slight stature, had the strength of 50- her favorite weapon is always the spine of the first person she slays, with which she wields in bloody battle to defeat the rest of the enemies.  The Brooklynauts– a pack of filthy, hyper-violent werewolves, stripped of their humanity but possessing only a lust for pungeant (sp?) battle of the souls of the doomed apocalypse!!! And then there was Emily Hanhan– a princess. What was she doing here amongst warriors most strong???! Swift and silent… no one among this motley crew of champions could yet deduce her skills, or even her motives behind this dangerous, wondrous voyage… Together, they travelled!!!!  READ ON… Continue reading →

BACON TAKEDOWN SOLD OUT!!!!

The Best don’t rest! Oct 16 2PM at the Bell House! This is the 3rd year the good idea in bacon of a takedown is happening! It is a proud thing to eat 20 local bacon recipes, and to shrewdly deduce who is champs!  And it’s an especially proud thing to hang with these cooks- the funnest good people ever. And your jaw will go SLACK at the bacon OPTIONS!!!

A mere $15 to come and enjoy yourself to the point of excess! (TIX HERE!) And for those of you that would like to enter- I have a cool 15 lbs of Hormel Black Label Bacon that my sponsor can donate you, to use as you see fit! So hit me up here to compete!

ATTAK!!!!

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Portion of procedes benefit Women’s Education Project!

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Oct 15 at the NYFFF! Buy tix and all info here!!!

Yo dudes- Seth and George of the Food Film Festival have always had serious hugs for the Takedown (holy shamoley what about that Gritz Takedown last year, true?), and proposed a brillo idea… why not get local restaurants to Takedown tacos with them at the NYFF?  I said yes please yes please.

So this is a PRO takedown- previously unheard of! NYC’s most coolest restaurants (Rockaway Taco? Tortilleria Nixtamal?  Check out the LIST of PROFESSIONAL TACOERS!)  Just as Zeus would  descend from Olympus in the form of a mighty bull, so will the Takedown present itself in this new and DOPE form! See and learn and love!

Here’s how to get in on tickets!  Visit http://thefoodfilmfestival.com/ and get your tickets!!!  Then eat all them pro tacos – and vote on the screamingest!!!!!

Then, the next day, come to the Bacon Takedown at the Bell House!!!!

Come join us you guys! All day, Oct 1!!!! For the 4th straight year, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens’ Chile Pepper Fiesta has deployed an elite crew of Champion Takedownerz to create and dish out recipes that feature the magical combination of Chile Peppers and Chocolate…  The Brooklynauts, Jenn De La Vega, Melissa Sands, Greg Erskine, Emily Hanhan, and Adrian Ashby – all Takedown Darlings, will punish your sense of self worth when they show how real cooks do…

This all-day festival features local hot sauces, chocolate, music, demos and amazing weather…  You better be there you guys!  this is always a very big deal!!!

Oh boy oh boy Chicago thank you for existing.  I love how last year you said okay we love bacon obviously so lets go have fun- and this year’s motto was let us destroy the faces off all who attend because this time it is for serious.  This year’s array of meat finery was decidedly more varsity- and the TD was collecting smiles all night long, burrowing them away like a squirrel in a tree. Because winter is coming…

REMEMBER, CHICAGO, get on my MAILING LIST if you want to not miss this ever! Check out pics and add your own at TheTakedowns FB site!!!

Thanks to Lincoln Hall, an elegant and wonderful place to get blasted. Thanks for Hormel Black Label Bacon– my velvety sponsor- for this, the 5th leg of the 2011 Bacon TD Tour!!!

And thanks to the Gods of Olympus i mean local chicago bacon cooks- because you are the shizzzzzossss and you Make It Happen.

Here, after the jump, are all the recipes that won, and all the recipes you saw if you were smart enough to attend…

Continue reading →

1 SPOT STILL OPEN!

Sept 18 at 2PM  – Lincoln Hall

Chicago is the baconest capital on earth as it is in heaven- as proven at last year’s first ever Chicago Bacon Takedown. This is not hyperbole, because A: I mean it and B: it is true. It’ll feel good to return to the smartest city to see what they rustle up this one more ‘gain!!!

Anyone who Feels It is invited to roll up their sleevies and cook a bacon invention of their own devising! Consider: Taffy? Tacos? Popsicles? What the heck is you seriously!??!!? I can give you 15lbs of sponsor Hormel Black Label Bacon to use in your profoundly ingenious recipe! EMAIL ME TO ENTER!  (The prizes are daffy!!!!)

Those of you who’d like to come down and sample the meatfun, pay only $15 and enjoy EATING EVERYTHING!!! (and vote on the Most Important. They are fighting for mondo prizes, Jack – from Wusthof, Le Creuset, Edgeware, Anolon and Microplane… so choose wisely!)

Sept 18 at 2PM  – Lincoln Hall

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Portion of procedes benefit Women’s Education Project!

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Sponsors:

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Prizes:

Portion of procedes benefit Women’s Education Project!

Maybe you already knew this, but SF is a pretty food-ish town- so they didn’t even blink when I said yo dudes want 15lbs of bacon and make whatever you want?  They just rolled up their sleeves and said no big woop what about we do jam, ice cream, cupcakes,  macaroons and also other stuff?  Dudes, it really was that awesome…

Thanks to all the cooks for their super hard work and amazing foodstuffs!!! Thanks humongously to Thirsty Bear for being such a cool and brillo venue, with tons of crazy good organic beers and also very cool and nice bartenders! My sponsor Hormel Black Label Bacon hooked up the bacon big time on this, the 4th leg of this years Bacon Takedown Tour!!!  I get all happy thinking about how awesome this is going, you guys!

Here, without further ado, are the WINNERS and RECIPES!!!

People’s Choice Awards:

• 1^st: Seana Mickols – Bacon Jalapeño Popper Tamales
• 2^nd: Kai Kronfield (Nosh This) –The Frosty Wilbur (bacon ice cream)
• 3^rd: Pig-Maki (Krista) – Aloha Roll & BLT Roll

Judges Choice Awards:

• 1^st: Ivy Something – Bacon Fried Chicken & Sweet Potato Biscuits
• 2^nd: Aihui Ong (Lovewithfood.com) – Bacon Macaroons w/ Bacon Infused Port Wine Filling
• 3^rd: Trace Williams (East Bay Food Revolution)– Bourbon Bacon Jam

Full Contestant List & Recipes

• Trace Williams (East Bay Food Revolution)– Bourbon Bacon Jam w/ Brie on Crostini
• Kai Kronfield (Nosh This) –The Frosty Wilbur (bacon ice cream)
• John Simone – Beacon Peanut Butter Pimp Bars
• Mark Danziger – Candied Bacon Jerky
• Bacon Liveration Front (Charles & Julia) – Rockin’ Rumaki
• Ivy Something – Bacon Fried Chicken & Sweet Potato Biscuits
• Aihui Ong (Lovewithfood.com) – Bacon Macaroons w/ Bacon Infused Port Wine Filling
• Tom Herndon – Multiple Hogasms
• Kajsa Sexton – Bacon Peanut Brittle
• Matt Zito – Bacon Wrapped Stone Fruit
• Elaine So & AJ Patel – Baco-Nut
• Marisa Lagos – Ravioli tre Porcellini
• Seana Mickols – Bacon Jalapeño Popper Tamales
• Pig-Maki (Krista) – Aloha Roll & BLT Roll
• Bacon in the Streets, Pig in the Sheets (Alyssa Medilla & Katy Rowe) – The Kings Revenge, Cupcakes of Doom

Tickets available at door!

To anyone who fancies themselves a Genius of Bacon: I will give you 15lbs of Hormel Black Label Bacon to prove said genius by bringing a worthy recipe to The Thirsty Bear, July 10 at HIGH NOON!  There isn’t enough hyperbole in the world to describe the momentousness of this occasion.  Come and join the small army of cooks at Thirsty Bear!  EMAIL ME TO ENTER!!!  Or come and eat all of it, and vote on the most bestest.

A mere $15 will gain you entry into a very yummy two hours of bliss. Tickets HERE…

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This is not fake! It is real!

Holleee crapppp 20-30 scoops of Brooklyn Ice Cream for you to judge!  At the Bell House- July 17 at 4PM.  Want to know why it is July 17? Because Chief King Ronald Reagan decided in the 1980s that America needed it to be National Ice Cream Day.  And he even made July National Ice Cream Month, so basically in July, you know how you must behave: all happy and dancing, probably…

In case it is not immediately apparent, the poster is of a bunch of zombie mummies advancing with spoons- their only weapon  against an extraordinarily powerful zombie mummie that has a Sundae instead of where brains should be.   The poster was drawed by an awesome kid i know. Hey! These zombie mummies need all the help they can get!  Come join the fracas!!!

TICKETS HERE!

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and

Prizes:

Portion of procedes benefit Women’s Education Project!