The best of Taste of Atlanta’s live cooking shows

Written by Emme Raus, staff writer

The most anticipated culinary festival of the year, Taste of Atlanta, returned to Midtown’s Tech Square on Friday Oct. 24 through Sunday Oct. 26.

Five food stages were set up that hosted 19 different live cooking demonstrations on Sunday, Oct. 26. Each live cooking presentation featured local and national chef celebrities that prepared dishes for the audience over the course of 45 minutes. I paid a visit to the top three demonstrations that were said to be the most informative, popular and, of course, delicious.

1.  “Secret’s in the Sauce” presented by Kristen Kish, Bravo’s “Top Chef” season 10 champion

Kristen Kish, the season 10 winner of “Top Chef,” led a hands-on cooking demonstration at The Kitchen Workshop stage. She walked the audience through step by step instructions how to make the vegetarian dish, Caraway Semolina Pasta with Early Fall Vegetable Bolognese. While the audience was chopping, sautéing and stirring along with Kish, the Top Chef winner kindly answered questions from the crowd.

She shared why “Top Chef’”s harrowing judge, Tom Colicchio, admired her. Kish advised, “When in doubt, keep your mouth shut!” The Le Cordon Bleu graduate also revealed that she is actively pursuing her own restaurant and working on her own cookbook. Her cookbook would feature more advanced dishes than the one she and the audience were preparing and her restaurant would most likely be opened in New York City.

The vegetarian meal took approximately 30 minutes to make and the participants were happily able to take it home with them.

2.  “Gospel Brunch” presented by chefs Jay Swift and Ron Eyester, and featuring the musical styles of Francine Reed

Over at The Chef’s Table station, a crowd gathered around to watch host Tom Sullivan and local chefs and restaurant owners Jay Swift of 4th and Swift and Ron Eyester of Rosebud and the Family Dog give individual cooking demonstrations. Swift prepared a veal schnitzel entrée while Eyester went the more traditional route and made his “wild Georgia shrimp and grits.”

Francine Reed, renowned gospel singer, entertained the audience with jazz songs during the cooking demonstrations such as “Let it Shine” and “Amen” while the audience sang along.

Eyester talked about his latest participation on the upcoming season of “Top Chef” in Boston and described how he could not reveal his whereabouts to his family or friends during the six weeks of filming last May through June.

Swift discussed how his veal schnitzel dish was prepared breaded with a fried egg on top and served every Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m at 4th and Swift. Eyester revealed how his dish was only prepared with “stone ground grits with the shrimp cooked in a pound of butter.”

At the conclusion of the cooking demonstration, samples of both Swift’s veal schnitzel and Eyester’s shrimp and grits were passed through the crowd.

3.  “Fried Chicken Face-Off” a competition between JCT Kitchen, Max’s Wine Dive and The Bishop

At the Throwdown station, three local restaurants competed for the title of Best Fried chicken hosted by Mara Davis of Atlanta Eats. Patrons were invited to purchase two tickets to sample the fried chicken from the three competitors and vote for their favorite dish. Two special guest judges, jazz singer Alexandra Jackson and Vince Sims of CBS46 News, provided 40 percent of the total vote.

Chef Zachary Marcoux of The Bishop prepared smoked fried chicken with whipped cauliflower, Tabasco honey butter and black eyed peas southern caviar. Chef Kojahara Thompson of Max’s Wine Dive put together a house-made jalapeno and buttermilk marinated chicken, deep-fried slow and low. Finally, Chef EJ Hodgkinson of JCT. Kitchen created fried chicken lollipops with honey drizzle.

The Bishop’s recipe for fried chicken was declared the winner by the majority of the public including Vince Sims.

Overall, this year’s Taste of Atlanta showcased mouthwatering live cooking demonstrations from a variety of accomplished chefs that left festival-goers satisfied with new recipes and full stomachs.