The Pitch‘s Taste goes all-star this Thursday
The Pitch’s biggest food event welcomes back past Golden Fork winners to vie again for the prize while you sample the city’s best food and drinks.
Hints of summer seem to show up a little earlier every year, from the 85-degree day in March that throws your thermostat into chaos, to the tank tops and sandals that must be unpacked in April. But for us, the season’s official start remains The Pitch’s Taste of Kansas City (Thursday, May 18, at the KC Live Block, 13th Street and Grand). Now in its 15th year as a mid-May institution, Taste features samples that loudly announce summer, such as Tallgrass Brewing’s Key Lime Pie beer and Popcorn Heaven’s KC Mix (cheese, caramel and a house-made cinnamon sauce that’s as red-hot as August).
“It makes your taste buds beg for more,” Popcorn Heaven owner Jaimie Tolbert says of the KC Mix flavor — and the same could be said for the rest of its scorching lineup, which also includes Southwest Hot Wings and Jalapeno Ranch.
Spicy is one thing, but muggy is another. “Birthday cake and strawberry cheesecake do not like hot weather,” Tolbert says, so if you have a sweet tooth, root for a mild night.
Alternately, if you just can’t get enough heat, stop by Hot Helga’s table and dip all your popcorn in Smokin’ Hot Helga Nordic Mustard (with chunks of fresh habaneros) — then take a cold, refreshing sip of Tallgrass Raspberry Jam Berliner Weisse so you don’t combust.
The 2017 roster includes more than 20 other local food and beverage vendors, among them Tom’s Town, the Homesteader Café, Brancato’s Catering, Cleaver & Cork, District Pour House + Kitchen, the Aladdin Holiday Inn Hotel, Blue Bird Bistro, the Fig Tree Café and Bakery, Pickens Sweet Treats and Trago.
Adding intrigue to the event is the annual Golden Fork competition, during which six chefs use a mystery box of ingredients to seek spontaneous culinary greatness. Participants include defending champion Shaun Brady, of the Ambassador Hotel; 2013 winner Jason Wiggin, of Tavern at Mission Farms; 2012 champion Charles d’Ablaing, of Rosso at Hotel Sorella; and Bryant Wigger, of Tavernonna Italian Kitchen at Hotel Phillips — previous restaurant, 12 Baltimore, claimed the prize in 2014 and 2015.
“I don’t know much about that at all,” Wigger says of Hotel Phillips’ legacy. “I have been in SoCal for the last 16 years.” Back in 2013, though, he had a memorable cooking-competition experience well outside California’s borders as one of three North American chefs chosen to participate in the televised event Taste Taiwan. “I had to make pizza dough and teach the local tribe how to use their pizza oven for pizza and bread,” he recalls.
While there won’t be an educational component to Golden Fork, Wigger has prepared something for the locals to try: Nonna’s meatballs, with Pomodoro and house ricotta, will be available at the Hotel Phillips table.
Taste of Kansas City sponsors include Topgolf, Cooper’s Hawk, Leinenkugel’s, On the Border and Costco. Tickets are $35 (GA) and $45 (VIP); doors open at 6 p.m. for VIP guests and 6:30 p.m. for GA.
