A happily hungry crowd egged on nearly 40 restaurants competing for bragging rights at the seventh annual Tampa Bay Food Fight Jan. 30, feeding more than $300,000 into Metropolitan Ministries’ job training programs for people at risk of becoming homeless.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/MTF2IH7SIRGQRHXOKQHWDEUG2Q.jpg "From left, Joi Watson, Khalilah McDuffie and Jeff Philbin.")
A panel of professional cooks judged flavor, skill and presentation while 800 guests, including 85 volunteers, sipped craft cocktails and sampled house specialties in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa Event Center.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/H2ZEUFW6OVBKDGN5ERF2GM6HVU.jpg "From left, Keri Eisenbeis, Stephanie Conners, Molly James and Shelley Sharp.")
Team Tampa, led by Tablas chef Taro Larrea, clinched the foodie showdown, besting their formidable rivals on Team St. Pete, led by chef Kevin Riley of Levy Restaurants, the Tampa Bay Rays’ hospitality partner. Levy Restaurants, along with Ybor City’s 7th + Grove, earned the most votes to win the People’s Choice Awards. Metropolitan Ministries chef Cliff Barsi fed an auction frenzy, stoking seven bidders to $5,000 each for private gourmet dinners prepared by his culinary students. Text and photos by Amy Scherzer.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/IALNX2VM5NBQZKMAIRV72YADC4.jpg "Jeff Gigante and Joseph Guggino.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/IRCCOJCGVNCFNCBDV3RB56WZOE.jpg "Tim Marks and Tony Marsh.")
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/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/6QRL2HOOWBGGNLYUEVW5ZLFV54.jpg "Annual Tampa Bay Food Fight raises more than $300,000 for Metropolitan Ministries")
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