Brewery Ommegang Hop Chef Competition Returns to Philly 4/23

“Beer and food belong together – whether as a thoughtful beverage pairing or as an ingredient – and this competition brings some of Philly’s best and brightest young chefs into the kitchen with our beers,” says Megan Maguire, Ommegang Market Manager. “Last year’s dishes were inspired, and the playful rivalries that developed between the chefs drove each of them to work harder and to create even more exciting and interesting dishes and pairings.”

The outstanding line-up of competing chefs includes: Yun Fuentes of JG Domestic Lucio Palazzo of La Calaca FelizNick Macri of SouthwarkPat Szoke of The IndustryEli Kulp of ForkMike Deganis of Alla Spina. The chefs will be judged based on five pairing principles: Simple Pairing, a direct interaction between food and beer; Incorporation, utilizing beer in the cooking process; Mimicking, matching the flavor profile of a dish with the flavor profile of a beer; Story Telling, tracing the history of the dish and the beer; and Experimental, making beer the star of the dish.

“Our Great Beer Deserves Great Food and Hop Chef programs further the very Belgian idea of food and beer pairing – that there is a beer for every dish. Starting this year’s competition off in Philadelphia is fitting as Philly is one of the centers of beer culture in the U.S. and it also has a booming restaurant scene with high quality food, both local and ethnic” said Phil Leinhart, Ommegang’s brewmaster.

The Hop Chef Competition is part of the Ommegang program known as Great Beer Deserves Great Food^®, a national initiative dedicated to the idea that fine beer deserves its rightful place at the table with fine foods. The Philadelphia event is the first in a series of chef’s cook-offs across the U.S., including other semi-final competitions in Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; and Albany, NY, culminating in a Grand Hop Chef cook-off at Ommegang’s Belgium Comes to Cooperstown festival August 2 to 4 at the brewery. In 2012, Philadelphia’s own George Sabatino won the national Hop Chef title in Cooperstown. He serves as the local Hop Chef Culinary Ambassador for this year’s competition.