The Chesterton-Duneland Chamber of Commerce heated things up a bit for the Town of Chesterton, with their third annual "Chili Challenge" held in the Thomas Centennial Park in downtown Chesterton. The "Chili Challenge" was held amidst the European Market, making the "Chili Challenge" part of market-goers’ fun.
There were a lot of flavorful varieties of chili to sample. Some challenge tasters even wanted to purchase some of the chili for later because it was so good. The Upper Deck Lounge was one challenge participant that had several requests for more.
Manager Josh Elmer, along with bouncer Dave Gray, said their key ingredient is flank steak. They roast their flank steak up to four long hours to get the flavor just right. Gray said, "People were asking if they could buy our chili, we ran out early because it was so popular."
Click here for photos from this event!
Don't worry if your favorite chili was from the Upper Deck and you are 21 or older. You can have the chance to taste it again with their own chili challenge on November 6, 2011, during a day of football game watching. You are encouraged to bring your own chili. "Anyone can enter," said Elmer.
If you tried the chili from the State Farm Agency of Will Hudson, you would have sampled chili that “has a little kick,” said Tammy Kalins. Their sauce had a delicious tomato flavor. Kalins said one of their key ingredients is Hungarian hot pepper, responsible for giving their recipe its “extra kick".
Third Coast Spice Cafe's Lauren Kenney said of their recipe, "The fact that we use carrots in our chili is a nice surprise. They mix well with the rest of the ingredients."
From the Regal Rabbit was Maribeth Conyne, serving a chili with roasted tomatillos, Mexican tomatoes. Conyne said, "When you roast the tomatillos they get sweet and the sugars caramelize. It brings a nice sweetness to the chili. We also use a chorizo, a Mexican sausage. As the flavors meld together the sauce thickens and that's what makes chili chili."
Judy Kukelka from Rittenhouse Senior Living said, "Being a member of the Chamber for a couple of years now, we like to give back to the community and also this is a way to show off the food that we serve our seniors." Chefs preparing the Rittenhouse chili were Derrick Stevens and Bryan Mecca. Stevens said, "We use Tajin spices, Mexican seasonings with lime juice and chili peppers."
The voting for the best chili's was done by the people that sampled them. Votes were compiled by Heather Ennis, Executive Director of the Chesterton-Duneland Chamber of Commerce and Kathy Harris. Ennis said, "This has been an absolute perfect day, the weather was beautiful. I am glad people donated to the food pantry and made donations too and everyone that came out had good chili. All around this was a great event and I think it enhanced the European Market today, too."
Winners of the Chili Challenge were:
People's Choice Business - Rittenhouse Senior Living
Most Unique Business - Regal Rabbit
Most Unique Restaurant - Lucrezia's
People's Choice Restaurant - Third Coast Spice Cafe