Kool-Aid provides sweet ending to first round of Cooking for a Classic

The first week – four rounds, 24 dishes by eight chef teams – wrapped up Thursday night on a sweet note with the battle between Team Virdrio led by Andres Keifer and Team STIR Raleigh led by Bill Heckler.

The teams were presented with three featured ingredients – hangar steak, rainbow chard and Roquefort blue cheese – with the "curveball" of Tropical Punch Kool-Aid. Only the Kool-Aid made it into each dish.

Cooking for a Classic pits local chef teams from Triangle restaurants against each other in a single-day challenge from ingredients to finished appetizers, entrees and desserts, then lets diners sample, vote and advance a winning team.

Heckler opened with a spicy vegetarian appetizer, a cauliflower asada taco plated on a handemade tortilla.

The spicy, smoky flavor was moderated by blue cheese in the pico de gallo. The dish was a cacophany of textures and flavors, served in almost-entree portions.

"I'm not sure I've ever had blue cheese in a taco before," one judge said.

Kaifer's appetizer, Kool-Aid poached beets, got oohs and aahs as it was announced. I was in the minority – I don't like beets, but gave the dish a solid try only to reinforce that preference.

Others at my table had nothing but praise for the meatiness of the beets, the pairing with a light-as-air whipped Roquefort and the effort that required.

The entrees were more roundly popular. After all, it's hard to go wrong with hangar steak. If cooking competitions are a lesson in pace – getting 100+ dishes to diners, allowing them enough time to taste and judge while still getting through the evening – this round's entrees made us want to slow down and savor.

Kaifer's team served it with carrot puree, a grilled shallot and a Kool-Aid jus that one judge described as "exceptional." The think, gravy-like jus had barely a taste of the Kool-Aid and left diners reaching for bread to sop it up.

"This is going to be hard to top," one diner said.

Then came the Shoyu hangar steak from Heckler's team. It was another generous portion of protein, this time Asian-inspired with a ginger glaze, soy-spiked sticky rice and chard kimchi.

While diners in indulged in the entrees, they knew to leave room for dessert, the dish that often proves to be the decider in these competitions.

Promised a Roquefort-infused chessecake for dessert 1, one of my dining companions clapped. "I love cheese. I love cake," she said.

And it ws that simple. The blue cheese was just enough to make for a rich, toffee-like taste that one judge called "absolutely extraordinary."

As the judges reviewed this dish, two of three said they needed more alone time with it.

"I literally wanted to lay on my plate and swim around a bit," one judge said.

Kaifer's team appealed to chocolate lovers with a buttermilk chocolate cake set on a Kool-Aid sauce with pink, Kool-Aid accented whipped cream.

It was the dish where the Kool-Aid made its presence truly felt, in a fruity sweet balance with the dense cake, and in a beautiful and fun presentation.

Cooking for a Classic, in its fourth year, is a fundraiser for The Lucy Daniels Center, with proceeds used to fund direct emotional and mental health services for children from birth to 12 years old. The winning chef drives away in the "classic" of the title, this year, a 2002 Chevrolet Corvette convertible.

When the votes were counted from the Kool-Aid competition, it was Bill Heckler and the team from STIR who advance.

The winners from round one will face off in the semifinals on March 4 and 5, and the competition will culminate with the grand finale on March 11.