What a great month of March as I was invited by Bocalocals.com to be an honorary judge in a meatball judging contest in Boca Raton, Delray and Lake Worth. The restaurants that were in the competition were as follows:
- Segreto Solita
- Vic and Angelos
- Paradiso
- V & S Deli
- Cafe Med
- South Shores Tavern
- La Stellas
- Table 42
- Trattoria Romano
- Twenty Twenty Grille
- Henrys
- Tuccis
- Tierra Fiamma
- 3 American Table
- Meatball Room
Our judges consisted anywhere from 6 to 8 people who were either food bloggers, Food critics, media or wine experts. We visited 16 restaurants throughout the month of March as part of the inaugural Boca Locals March Meatball Madness competition.
Samples of meatballs were presented to our panel and judged in the criteria of:
taste, texture, presentation and originality. The restaurants participating were asked to think out-of-the-box when creating their dishes to include vegan, turkey, chicken or really a twist on the traditional meatball. During the month of March as we made our travels from each spot I showcased our judging on my facebook page @2forksandacork . My favorites along the way were Solita in Delray Beach…a traditional Italian meatball, the veal marsala meatball at Tierra Fiamma which was really yummy, and a lamb middle eastern meatball at Henrys that the executive chef created just for the competition!
I must say every restaurant was over the top accommodating us each and every time and giving us time for questions and answers, which is time being taken away from their busy schedules.
The results of the competition will be posted on the bocalocals.com website, Florida Table Magazine, Ft Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Boca Raton Magazine, Palm Beach Post, Simply the Best Magazine, Boca Observer,Boca Raton Tribune and more.
And the winner is……………..Twenty-Twenty Grille who will receive a beautiful plaque to showcase in their restaurant and, in turn, invite all guests to taste their award winning meatball SPONSORED by BocaLocals. To RSVP please contact Shana at 561-670-4452 and visit Bocalocals.com.
The winning meatball consisted of a mix of duck confit, chicken confit and foie gras – a food product made of theliver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This beauty hides a tart-dried cherry inside and sitson a mix of brown butter, roasted tomato and port wine syrup accompanied by a landing strip of crispy duck skin
I really enjoyed this opportunity to connect with such professionals as restaurant owners, executive chefs, South Florida food and wine bloggers, media personnel, etc…….make new friends and once again allows me to throw caution to the wind…..and LOVE what I do on so many levels! Cheers till we meet again, Tracy
https://2forksandacork.com/boca-locals-march-meatball-madness/
