Food

Step into Seaside Luxury at the Cheeca Lodge in Islamorada

Private, romantic and filled with tropical splendor, Cheeca Lodge is a vacation place for tourists from everywhere including South Florida.  Located just over an hour south of Miami, this lodge and spa rests right on the Atlantic Ocean side of the upper Keys.  From the moment you slip through the entrance into the 27 acres of lush grounds, you’ll be exposed to endless pursuits of pleasure. Poolside, beachside or just lounging in a comfy chair Cheeca has everything to restore and reinvigorate you.

My editor gave me another one of those delicious assignments recently.  I was to replace her as a judge in a cooking competition at the Cheeca. Hard work but someone has to do it. We drove up to the lodge, parked the car and strolled into the ample room that would be my HQ for the next 8 hours.

The 2nd annual Battle of the Chefs was about to start and my appetite was in full gear.  It was time for a culinary showdown and eight chefs had stepped up to the challenge.  It started out calmly enough but as the afternoon progressed insanity reared its unexpected head. Michelle Rifice, Director of food and beverage, opened the event and stated, “We are really looking forward to an even bigger and better time than last year. There was so much support and enthusiasm from the community that we’re confident it will only continue to grow in popularity.”

Each round of the competition pitted two chefs and their culinary teams from well known restaurants,  against each other.  Each team had half an hour to prepare two dishes for the judges to taste. Every round featured a different “secret ingredient” which the chefs were required to incorporate into both dishes.  Each round eliminated one chef, until only two teams remained.

Participants were: Chef Michael Ledwith from Kaiyo, Chef Andy Niedenthal from Green Turtle (last year’s winner), Chef Ben Coole of Ziggie and Mad Dog’s, Islamorada Fishing Club’s Chef Andrew Tsang, Chef Tony Glitz of Hawk’s Cay, Chef Miguel Figueroa of Key Largo Grande-a Hilton Resort and Island Grill’s Chef Sami Abdalla.

A variety of “secret ingredients” were made available for the chefs including, calamari, bananas and canned tuna fish.  That may not seem too outrageous to you but stop and ask yourselves…what can you create with canned tuna?  Tuna casserole, tuna salad, tuna cakes?

Battle of the Chefs ran overtime. The crowds were getting rowdy.  The judges were starting to sip cocktails. The young teens were getting brazen and loud and then unexpectedly a lovely benefactor, who had already spent a fortune at the pie auction, came up with a sadistic dare.  She slyly strolled over to Vinny; one of the MC’s of the event and whispered something in his ear.  After Vinny stopped laughing, he announced that the benefactor would contribute a hefty amount of dead presidents IF the judges could be pied.  Yes…the old pie in the face routine.  Well, it was a fundraiser…and it was for a great cause, so each judge agreed.  But we had a strategy.  We would scatter when the time came and high tail it out of there.  Sadly, the teens had their own strategy.  When Cheeca’s own Chef de Cuisine David Matlock arrived with the pies, the dauntless teens surrounded us.  We were doomed and PIED!

Chef Miguel Figueroa came in second and Chef Michael Ledwith from Kaiyo was declared the winner.  He went home with big beautiful trophy.  I came home with a tummy filled with eight portions of incredibly prepared dishes, provided by superb chefs AND whipped cream splattered all over my face. I must admit that the pie was delish, the crowds roared with laughter and the benefit was a huge success!!!

Tagged with: battle of the chefs, cheeca, florida keys, iron chef, islamorada, kaiyo