A taste of our conversations with the chefs battling it out at Taste

It’s that tine again: The Pitch‘s Golden Fork contest is back. The competition is at the center of our annual Taste event, where five chefs go utensil to utensil for top honors as hungry Kansas Citians go booth to booth to sample some of the metro’s coolest food and beverages.

We interviewed six chefs for the Taste supplement included in this week’s print edition (which went to press before Brian Bromwell, of Anton’s, exited the contest). Their answers reveal just how unpretentious and approachable these dudes are. Just because a guy knows how to break down a duck or butcher a pig doesn’t mean he’s, you know, fancy. Excerpts from our conversations follow. And Taste tickets ($40, or VIP for $50) remain available at pitch.com.

The Pitch: What’s your favorite ingredient?

Shaun Brady (Ambassador Hotel, 1111 Grand): I would say bread because you can do a whole menu just around bread. Since I moved to Kansas City, Farm to Market is really good. I’m in love with their Grains Galore. It is one of the best breads around. I have it on the menu at the hotel, and I sell so much of it, it’s ridiculous.

Bobby Stearns (Ophelia’s, 201 North Main, Independence): There are so many different things you can do with pork, whether it’s pork chops, pork belly or bacon. One of my other favorite ingredients is cheese because there are so many different kinds and there’s so much you can do with it. I also love cooking with mushrooms. I just got into a bunch of yellow morels, and they’re just beautiful. You can only get those at certain times of the year. Right now that’s what I’m really excited about.

Jason Wiggin (InterContinental, 401 Ward Parkway): It’s always fun when I find something that someone else is passionate about — something as simple as a tomato. Like this guy on this farm lives, eats and breathes these tomatoes like they’re his children. That passion transfers to me, too. I feed off of that. I’m like, “That’s so awesome — this guy slept with his tomato in his bed to make sure it ripened right!”

Charles d’Ablaing (Chaz on the Plaza, 325 Ward Parkway): It’s kind of a tossup between beef and seafood. You can take a really good piece of beef and make it excellent, or you can take a really good piece of beef and muck it up horribly very easily.

Justin Voldan (Hotel Phillips, 106 West 12th Street): I really enjoy cooking with scallops. They’re very versatile, and I can do them a dozen different ways off the top of my head. Most people seem to like them. I really like duck — it’s a very underutilized bird. On my one day off a week, five years ago, I’d go to the store, get a duck, and just break it down and cook it all day.

What three things are always in your refrigerator at home?

Brady: Milk, bread and cheese.

Stearns: Oh, my gosh, nothing. I’m here all the time, so when I get home, I’m not cooking anything. I go out to eat a lot. I don’t have kids and I’m not married, you know what I mean? I guess you could say cereal in my cupboard, and maybe water, beer and milk? Maybe Gatorade to recover from these long nights.

Wiggin: Three types of hot sauce: Cholula, Sambal and Sriracha. I eat much different at home. I’m on a crazy diet right now, and I’ve lost, like, 40 pounds.

d’Ablaing: Cheese of varying sorts, sour cream, fresh juice.

Voldan: Water. I’m a single guy. I don’t have much. I usually have some kind of Cajun-style sausage, almond milk and garlic — I think those are always in there.

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What is your go-to restaurant meal?

Brady: I’ve been here not so long, so I’m still trying out everywhere. ABC Café in Overland Park has unbelievable beef curry.

Stearns: I live in Waldo now, so I always go to Jasper’s on my day off. I get the chicken parmesan or go to the deli and get the Venetian sandwich, which is like an Italian pork-steak sandwich. I could probably go there once a week. Another place is Bo Lings. Their food is always consistently good.

Wiggin: I have so many friends who have restaurants that if I say just one, I’m going to get beat up. I’m really big into Latin food, and that’s something I don’t do. My background is all French cuisine, and it’s all high-end fine dining. They always say the better your restaurant, the worse you eat. If I could cheat, I would totally smash some crazy Mexican food like tamales and menudo. I like home-style foods.

d’Ablaing: We’ve got a 2-year-old, so if we do go out, it’s usually someplace simple where we know exactly what we’re going to get and exactly how it’s going to taste. I would say Fogo de Chao. My wife is Brazilian, so that’s the place we’ll head if we get a chance to go have lunch.

Voldan: I go to Aixois Brasserie, and every time, I get the escargot. It’s not an easy thing to find.

What do you make for company?

Brady: When people come over to the house, I generally always have to do a bread pudding. Another quick and easy one I can make and have ready is a steak-and-Guinness pie.

Stearns: I like to grill some nice steaks. I go to McGonigle’s, because it’s right by my house, and do a sliced beef tenderloin with shrimp scampi. I deal with some picky eaters. I try to keep it basic when I’m cooking for them. I either grill steaks or make some type of pasta dish.

Wiggin: Today is my daughter’s birthday, and we’re grilling outside. We have Local Pig sausages, and I’m grilling up some flank steak, and we’re making fajitas. For company, for a long time I tried to impress everybody. But I’ve been doing this for so long that I just cook good food. It doesn’t have to be super-fancy-schmancy — I do that every day at work. I just want everyone to be happy.

d’Ablaing: I just had a house party the other day. I did garlic-and-gorgonzola crostini and sea bass with vegetable risotto.

Voldan: I usually make a simple pasta or a green and some salmon with quinoa or some brown rice. I just hit 30, so I’m trying to be a little more healthy.

What do you wish someone would make for you?

Brady: Anything. People are always afraid to cook for chefs, but we’re probably the easiest people to please because we’re just happy to have a plate of food that we didn’t have to make.

Stearns: Anything that I don’t have to cook. People are like, “Well, you’re a chef. I don’t know if I want to cook for you.” I’m like, listen: Anything that I can just sit down and you can bring to me and I don’t have to cook it and I get waited on — it’s good with me. I’m not very picky.

Wiggin: I wish someone would make me something good. There’s not a dish I can’t go and get somewhere. This is going to sound bad because I just said I was on a crazy diet, but what I wish we had here is El Pollo Loco and In-N-Out Burger — those are things I miss about California. Ultimately, I just want someone to make me something that makes them happy.

d’Ablaing: Enchiladas. I love enchiladas. About once every three weeks, I make a giant pan of enchiladas for myself at home. Then I eat as many as I can, and the rest I individually wrap and put in the fridge and eat throughout the week. Then I can’t stand the sight of them for another month. I wish somebody would make them for me.

Voldan: I always wanted somebody to make me a Christmas goose. I’ve never had a Christmas goose.