Many restaurants, professional chefs, and amateur chefs are participating in the third annual Chili Cook-Off at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk on Saturday October 27. Admission is free, but if you want to partake of chili the “tasting kits” cost $9 (includes 5 taste tickets, spoon, cup, and People’s Choice voting ballot). A portion of tasting kit sales will be donated to the Beach Flats Community Center.
The competition features four categories:
• Amateur Red
• Amateur Vegetarian Red
• Professional Red
• Professional Vegetarian Red
Awards (including plaques and cash) will be given to Best Chili in each category, People’s Choice, Most Tasted, and Most Original Booth.
Here is the schedule:
9:00am-10:00am Preparation period (No heat- 1 hour)
10:00am-1:00pm Cooking period (3 hours)
10:00am Tasting kits go on sale
1:00pm Public tasting begins
4:00pm Winners announced in beach amphitheater
Last year’s winners included two chefs from The Picnic Basket in Santa Cruz (Ryan Hoyt and Mark Denham) and one chef from Smoqe in Aptos (Aaron Duncan). Smoqe has since closed, but Duncan is now part of a new venture called Beast BBQ.
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