Love Nightclub Hires a New Chef

Love Nightclub hosted a cooking competition last Friday in D.C. called  Love The Chef to determine who will be awarded their next executive chef.. The club's new management have been on a hunt for a few months now and they finally narrowed down their search to three contestants. The contestants were required to prepare three course tapas judged by a panel of D.C.'s most respected food connoisseurs and nightlife socialites.

The crowd was nice and mature..which is quite refreshing in this day and age. There seemed to be a lot of  young black professionals in the building. When I walked into the nightclub, I was handed a small business card where I was supposed to rate the chefs on taste-ability and plate-ability. I was also given a sheet of paper with a list of questions to help me network while I was there enjoying open bar for 2 hours and free food. Seems like a great Friday night right? You betcha!

Chef Mckinnis prepared a margarita bread pudding. It was quite fluffy, sweet, and cinnamony. Now, I'm no fan of bread pudding, but this here was something to write about. Sort of reminded me of french toast minus the powered sugar with the consistency of apple pie. Oddly enough, I tasted a hint of smoke the deeper I dug my fork into it. Unfortunately, it stuck to my teeth towards the last forkfuls. It didn't have the prettiest presentation but goodness gracias was it yummy. Margarita bread pudding ranked high on taste-ability and low on plate-ability.

Chef Jackson prepared bourbon banana bread pudding. It had the appearance of a casserole with crisscrossed chocolate drizzle on top garnished with sliced strawberries. But inside looked like somebody upchucked raisins, bananas, and bread. I apologize for the visual. The placement of food and design on this plate was very pleasing to the eye but not my taste buds. Aesthetically they would've won in my book, only if I hadn't tasted mush in my mouth.

You're probably wondering about the 3rd contestant. Well, I didn't get a chance to sample his dishes due to the lack of announcements. Nobody announced when the food was brought out so you had to have the hawk eye in order to sample everything. Every time I tried to get a taste or glimpse of the "real" food there were only crumbs left.

They also had a wine station, sampling 3 different types of wine. A company called Pretty Penny Wine Tasting was on hand to do the honors. I'm a white wine drinker so my favorite was the White House Riesling. It had a little bubbly on the tongue with a hint of sweetness. Not as sweet as my  favorite wine choice, Moscato, but I enjoyed it. And a bottle of White House Riesling won't set you back either, it's rather affordable. Make sure you google Pretty Penny Wine Tastings. It's a black owned business and boy do we need to support our own.

All culinary photos taken by Kaptuer.