Why Are a Bunch of Philadelphia Chefs Heading to Cooperstown?


If you follow local chefs on Twitter you may have asked yourself the same question poised in this post’s headline. George Sabatinio (Stateside), Scott Schroeder (SPTR and American Sardine Bar), Nic Elmi (Rittenhouse Tavern) and Joe Cicala (Le Virtu) are all heading to Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown to prepare for Hop Chef, a chef competition that uses Ommegang beers. While they’re in Cooperstown they’ll meet the brewers and taste all the Ommegang beers to come up with recipes. On the ride up they’re using the hashtag #HopChef and are doing an excellent job of ribbing each other.

The Hop Chef Competition is Tuesday July 10th at World Café Live and Philadelphia area chefs will be using their imaginations to create and pair dishes with Ommegang ales. This competition is one of a series being held around the nation to look for the Hop Chef, and whoever wins will move on to compete for the ultimate title at the Belgium Comes to Cooperstown event at the Ommegang brewery.

Each chef will be creating two dishes – one for Great Beer and one for Great Food – in an attempt to move on to the final round. In addition to the chefs heading to Cooperstown today, Jason Cichonski (Ela) and Jon Cichon (Lacroix) will also be competing. Tickets are on sale for $55.

To purchase tickets click here.

Great Beer Deserves Great Food [Official Site]