Photo courtesy of Scott Varnedoe
Restaurant IPO chef takes first place in the Taco Takedown Challenge
During Wine & Food Week in The Woodlands, Texas, two weeks ago, Baton Rouge chef Scott Varnedoe of Restaurant IPO made an impression at the event’s Taco Takedown Challenge and Grand Tasting.
Varnedoe won the taco cook-off with his Asian Cajun taco. The dish featured a miniature five-spice taco shell, miso-whipped goat cheese, sashimi tuna and salmon and royal red shrimp tossed in an Asian glaze, topped with a collard green kimchi, yellow pepper Sriracha, Asian-spiced peanut and pumpkin seeds, sesame pickled mustard seeds and a petite salad of sunflowers.
Varnedoe made 800 of the tacos for the event. It was his first time representing Louisiana at The Woodlands’ festival.
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“I’m very competitive,” he says. “I’m a lunatic. Once you leave the restaurant setting, it’s all about making something that will wow the judges. I always want to win. I cannot stand losing.”
Varnedoe was equally competitive for the grand tasting but did not win that one. However, he says he had a line out the door of people wanting to taste his sous-vide beef tenderloin. The protein sat on smoked blue cheese grits and also featured ribeye and sweetbread Foie gras debris, a horseradish pickled mustard seed, micro petite salad, candied tomato and sherry truffle demi jus.
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“People were flipping out about it,” he says.
Varnedoe says he has been invited for next year’s event. For the Baton Rougean, the trophy will sit nicely alongside his other victories, such as the 2014 selection as a Best Chef in the American South by Best Chefs America. He also enjoyed the overall experience of the Texas event.
“You get to see what everybody else is doing, especially in that neck of the woods,” he says. “You’ve got to get outside of your own kitchen to open up your own mind. It’s a lot of fun.”