Fun and Food At Niwot’s Chili Cook-Off  April 2011
BY GENEVIEVE JACOBI
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Feb. 26 gathering at the Left Hand Grange in Niwot really got hopping with lots of red hot, spicy and mouth-watering, sizzling and steaming, wooden spoons a-churning in the pots. About 250 people turned out to sample the chili dinner and serve as amateur judges for this year’s contest. 

The dinner consisted of last year’s winners creations: Seth Steele’s “Smoky Short Rib Chili” and Chef John Crosse’s “White Bean Chili con Linguica.” Chef Dale Lamb’s southwestern corn bread was served on the side.

For an additional $3 fee, there were pies from My Mom’s Pie, including banana cream, chocolate cream, blackberry/raspberry and apple. All the pies are made by the owners, husband and wife team Jeff Ballard and Kini Christie, who have adapted grandma’s recipes with a healthier twist.

Double winner Roma Melrose receives a trophy from

Judge Wendy Wham of KUNC in Greeley.

Photo by Genevieve Jacobi

Mango sorbet was also served later in the evening, compliments of Peter Arendsen’s Boulder-based Ice Cream Alchemy.

The 2011 contest involved 12 entries from nine different local participants. The names were as colorful as the chilis dished up themselves. Take Greg Davis’ “Owen’s Mean Green Hot & Spicy Vegan Chile Verde” or his “Ozzie’s Wimpy and Hardly Spicy Vegan Chili Verde,” or Tammy Meighe’s “Rockin’ Green Chili” and Roma Melrose’s “Ding Dong 8 Alarm Chile Roja.” Other entrants included Mike Shannon of the Eye Opener Coffee Shop, Juan Reyes-Trejo and David Gray from the Niwot Tavern, Shawn Wentz, Tim Kirk and Bill Shirley.

At the end, it was one of Melrose’s three entries, her “Chili Verde Aguacate” (green chili with avocado) that carried the day. Melrose won in both the people’s choice and judge’s categories. The runner up in the People’s Choice was Gray’s “Pork Green Chili”, while second prize in the Judges’ Category was Shirley’s “Maple Grove Pork Green Chili.”

So who were these illustrious judges? The Left Hand Valley Courier’s own editor, writer and all-around foodie, Donna Currie; Longmont Times-Call food writer Pamela Mellskog; KUNC (Greeley) radio personality Wendy Wham, and George Weber (aka Santa) served as judges.

The musical entertainment for the evening was provided by a changing constellation of students from the Niwot High School Symphony Orchestra. This group, working for tips and the tickets they had pre-sold to the Chili Cook-Off, to raise funds for their trip to New York City at the end of March where they competed at the National Orchestra Cup Competition at Lincoln Center.

Besides traditional western string instruments, diners were treated to Niwot High School sophomore Linda Li’s playing of the guzheng, a 21-stringed Chinese harp. 
Joan Munn brought her two granddaughters, Gabbi and Amanda Barton, both Niwot High School students, to the Cook-Off. “The chili was spicy, but good. Then we had a root beer to cool things down,” said Munn, summing up the family’s opinion of the fare before rushing off to attend “Oklahoma!”, the show of the evening at the high school.