The simaltaneous opening of Fresh Grocer and the Penn students' discovery of the kitchen has left a void in the lives of many college students: the ability to cook.
Beyond the wonders of the George Foreman Grill and my favorite kitchen appliance, the quick and easy sandwich maker, lies a whole new culinary experience for us cook-book virgins, food that actually tastes good coming from an under-supplied kitchen on beige block.
The food channel offers some aid to those in need. Tune in at 10:00 PM on Friday and Saturday nights to catch the Iron Chef, a new breed of game show where the Iron Chef is pitted weekly against some uncertain opponent in the cookoff of a lifetime.
Crazy good fun for grandmom and grandpop, but lets face it, who can sit still for an hour watching a show with no sex, no violence and a funny little man with a wok. There has to be a better option.
Enter the lighter more durable metal--titanium. Add a few of Philadelphia's top chefs into the mix and a live action food demonstration is created right outside Philadelphia's city limits.
Monthly, the Fretz Corporation hosts a title bout between two Philly chefs to raise money for SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now). The rules remain the same as the pop-culture phenom -- 1 hour, 1 strange ingriedient, and as many courses as two men can prepare. Good food and even better wine is provided as the two chefs madly try to out do one another.
True, many of the patrons are old enough to be your parent's, but what better place to learn the art of good cooking from some of the best in the business.
This month's showdown was between two time Titanium Chef champion, Al Paris of Zanzibar Blue and Nunzio Patruno of The Monte Carlo Living Room.
For some reason the show's organizers chose the ingriedient that everything tastes like, yet has no taste of its own, chicken. As the clock began, nearly 24 lbs. of chicken emerged from within a standard sized light-blue cooler.
Both chefs could bring any of their own ingriedients to create their dishes, but chicken had to be involved in each and every one of them. Nunzio managed to import an entire Italian Garden, while Al had about four lobsters hiding somewhere in the trunk of his car.
As the smell of finely chopped herbs and spices filled the room, the two men prepared it all: chicken wontons, chicken wings, chicken salad, chicken curry, chicken pasta, chicken soup. This isn't your mom's homecooking. Remember all these dishes are coming from the chefs of two of the most eclectic restaurants in Philly.
Nunzio's chicken wings were lightly dusted with a chestnut flour atop a bed of argula and his chicken pasta was seasoned to perfection and smothered in olive oil he had brought from his hometown in Italy. Al outdid himself as well. His cutlets were smothered in a delectable lobster broth and his wontons covered in a spicy yet tangy salsa.
Despite Al's ability to somehow create a chicken based dessert (a ginger lemon meringue martini with a touch of carmelized chicken), as well as both contestants attempts to ply the judges with an ample supply of full bodied reds and whites, Nunzio emerged as the new Titanium Chef.
Yes, poor Al lost his title to the crazy little Italian man with his garden of herbs. The score was close, a mere 1.75 points between the two. Maybe it was just time for Al to surrender his title, or perhaps the judges were taken with Nunzio's flair and devotion to a few solid ingredients. Maybe the chicken dessert was a little too much for anyone to handle? Who knows, and who cares.
After it was all said and done, both chefs did an amazing job with their secret ingredient. Likewise, both restaurants remain a great place to take a date if you want to get laid, but there can only one Titanium Chef, and until next month, that chef will be Nunzio.
