Chefs from FT33, The Grape, Knife, Stock & Barrel, TJ’s Seafood, The Slow Bone, Spoon and others competed at the first annual Big Oyster Bash Sunday (held, appropriately enough, on Pearl Street), and as one of the hosts and judges, I had the distinction of announcing the judges’ selection for best of the lot, and the winner was … Stephen Rogers of Gemma, who did two dishes: A steak tartare and a baked oyster on the half shell.
The inaugural event was well-attended, and the wine and beer held out longer than the food, which was well-received (including two non-oyster dishes: a pork and grilled pimento cheese sammy from The Grape and a croissant bread pudding from Stock & Barrel’s John Stevens, who tied with John Tesar of Spoon and Knife for attendees’ favorite). There were special appearances (by the Dallas Naked Cowboy and the Dallas Mavericks drum band), plus plenty of happy people.
Here are some scenes from the festivities. Chefs for Farmers’ main event will return to Lee Park in April.
