Center Court hosts two-
person competition, courtesy of the food committee
By Aaron Johnson
Two students battled over the stoves of Center Court’s International section Wednesday night for the right to be Washington University’s first-ever Iron Chef.
The competition, modeled after the popular Japanese game show aired on the Food Network, featured two students, Aaron Weinblatt and Eric Yeung, each cooking one favorite dish all night. Students were asked as they left Center Court which one they liked better.
Unlike the TV show, the two dishes were not related by ingredients.
“It was the students’ idea,” said Executive Chef Rick Turner of the Iron Chef event. “It came up in the food committee.”
The committee, which has the stated goal of “working. to improve the dining services on campus,” created the Iron Chef competition to get students excited about the food offered on campus, and to let a few students understand what working at Center Court is like.
From the reaction of both participants and connoisseurs, the event was a success. Weinblatt and Yeung both had trouble keeping enough food in their respective serving dishes, and at times the line stretched as long as those for weekend brunch at Center Court.
The competition was very causal and friendly; neither competitor appeared nervous or worried about how well he was doing at the polls.
Weinblatt, a sophomore, found out about the competition from friends who are on the food committee.
“They said, ‘Hey, would you like to cook?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, it’s my favorite thing. I’d love to,” said Weinblatt as he ran to toss some more vegetables on the stove.
The dish that Weinblatt was making, a vegetarian recipe that was served on bread, was called bruscetta modena.
“It’s a fusion Italian dish,” said Weinblatt, pointing at his saucepan. “I’ve got here a classic Italian oil base with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, which is made only in Italy. This goes into a bruscetta, which is another classic Italian dish. But I use white cheddar, which is American. Hence, it is a fusion dish.”
Weinblatt said he didn’t have a favorite dish of his own, but the bruscetta modena is his favorite dish to cook.
Weinblatt’s competitor was having an equally enjoyable time. Yeung, a senior, said that he too loves to cook, and though he lives on campus, still cooks about once a week. Yeung paused in his remarks, though, remembering that technically it’s forbidden to use the residential hall kitchens to actually cook food.
“Just say that I ‘warm’ food up once a week,” he said with a smile.
Yeung was cooking his variation of curry chicken with rice noodles.
“It’s chicken with onions, bell peppers and green sprouts,” said Yeung. “It’s a Chinese dish. I can’t really describe where it’s from, but usually you’ll get it in a caf‚ in Hong Kong.”
Both chefs were modest when describing their competition.
“I can’t even begin to predict [who will win],” said Weinblatt. “Eric is an amazing chef from what I’ve seen, and I’m just happy to be cooking with him.”
“Aaron’s a good competitor,” said Yeung, also refusing to guess at whose dish would come out on top.
Junior Amy Langenstein seemed to regard the two dishes in the competition as a win-win situation for students.
“If they taste as good as they smell, I won’t know who to vote for,” she said.
Center Court staff members and cooks enjoyed the food and competition just as much as the students.
“I think it’s cool,” said Cashanda Lowery, as she watched students shout encouragement at both contestants. “They should do this more often.”
Chef Carlos Collier agreed.
“It’s fun to have students come in and cook because they can tell what we go through,” he said.
Yeung seemed to verify Collier’s thoughts, saying that he had more respect for the Center Court cooks after having to cook so much food continuously.
When all the votes were counted, it was Weinblatt’s Italian dish that had won the hearts-and stomachs-of the most students, said food committee co-chair Josh Gantz, who was tallying the votes.
“Aaron won in a lopsided victory,” Gantz said, although he added that the competition was a little unfair because many of the students came in with biases. “We found a lot of people were only trying one dish because they didn’t like curry.”
According to Gantz, the food committee plans to hold more WU Iron Chef competitions in the future, with at least one more this semester. Students interested in participating should contact the food committee at [email protected].
Contact Aaron at
[email protected].