SJ Locavore goes to the Mighty Mac & Cheese Battle of the Chefs at Tortilla Press Cantina

Chef Mark's wife Lydia feeds him a little mac-n-cheese

Monday night was a lot of fun. Chef Mark from The Tortilla Press and The Tortilla Press Cantina in Pennsauken (do I really need to keep identifying him considering how much i write about him?) held a fund raiser for The Food Bank of South Jersey. The event raised $1000 that will be donated to help feed residents in our area. Isn’t that fabulous? The Might Mac & Cheese Battle of the Chefs also was an event to promote South Jersey Culinary Event’s Homestyle Classics week that begins next Monday the 25th.

The mac and cheese in the forefront was an orzo pasta with Greek cheeses from Sofia. It was really, really good.

The chefs from 12 of the areas independent restaurants showed up with their take on macaroni and cheese, and we had a chance to taste each dish and vote on them in different categories. Brian and the boys showed up a little early and grabbed a table. John and Lisa (the ones who eat in South Jersey) were there, too, and crowded around our table so we could all eat together and compare notes.

There wasn’t a bad mac-n-cheese in the bunch. From traditional elbow noodles with cheese to a really yummy large shell pasta dish with cheese, chicken and mushrooms (yum) the dishes were quite varied. My favorite ended up being the gorgonzola macaroni and cheese prepared by Bistro di Marino. I could have eaten the entire pan full. My boys, as well and John and Lisa’s son, preferred a more traditional mac and cheese with a bit of Moroccan spice from Norma’s Mediterranean Café/ Cous Cous. I think they ended up going back for fifths.

The event got a lot of attention due to the promotion that Fox Philly gave it, and the restaurant was full. Lines to get to the mac and cheese got long at times, but no one seemed to mind. The event was for a good cause and there was plenty of mac and cheese to go around.

Choosing the best in each category was hard - they were all so good.

When all the votes were tallied Blackbird’s Chef Alex’s pasta with chicken and mushrooms was the overall favorite. They were all really good, though. I had a difficult time picking an overall favorite but ultimately went with the gorgonzola.

The night was a lot of fun and raised some much needed funds for our region’s food bank. If you take a look at my previous post – it looks as if Chef Mark will be doing another fund raiser, this one for Haiti, at his Collingswood location. This one will be an Iron Cupcake Challenge at the end of February. I’ll bring you more details when they are available. I realize that these events aren’t particularly locavore events, but they are events by our local, independent chefs, many of whom support local when it’s in season. Plus the events are fundraisers to raise money for good causes. So for my hardened locavore readers, please indulge me when I go off topic a bit.

This is what Lisa and I referred to as "the carnage" when it was all said and done. Nine people at a four top table and dozens of mac and cheese dishes to be sampled = one big mess!

One last thing. You’ll see in the pictures that the food was served in styrofoam bowls. Those were bowls that Chef Mark had for years that he has stopped using in his restaurants. He now does take out in eco-friendly packaging. However, he had the styrofoam in storage and figured he could throw them away unused or at least get a use out of them before they hit the landfill. Using them once before they get thrown away is much more responsible than just chucking them because you don’t want to be seen using styrofoam, don’t you agree?