The Daily Sauce :: A Daily Sip of Hip

August 26th, 2008 edition of The Daily Sauce: Food and Wine. Visit Our Food and Wine Archive.

Local Caterers Latest in National Competition

First, it was Christina Machamer winning Hell’s Kitchen. Then Chefs de Cuisine of St. Louis won the American Culinary Federation’s Knowledge Bowl. Now, it’s Ann Marie Lemcke and Greg Ziegenfuss, the latest Gateway City team to compete in a national competition: Food Network’s Challenge: Big Bash Caterers, broadcast last Sunday.

Lemcke (owner of The Art of Entertaining) and Ziegenfuss (executive chef at Butler’s Pantry) competed against three other professional catering teams from around the country for the $10,000 prize. With only four hours to create and serve an original menu (consisting of one hot appetizer, one cold appetizer, one cocktail and one dessert) for a Colorado Ballet party, Lemcke and Ziegenfuss were cool and calm amid the chaos and looked the most organized, as noted by the judges. The duo kept things simple and tasty with a Champagne-vodka cocktail, lamp “pops” with lamb jus, a plum-lobster “martini,” and Pavlova. Alas, team St. Louis didn’t win; the top honors went to teams from Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Lemcke says that it was an honor just to be selected to participate. And that’s as good as a gold medal to us.

Sauce pick: Congrats to Ann Marie Lemcke and Greg Ziegenfuss
Info: For recipes, visit The Food Network online.

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