Portland has crowned its first VEGAN IRON CHEF: Qausu AsaaseYaa!
Qausu AsaaseYaa plates for the win! Photo by Lucas DeShazer
The Competitors:
- Wes Hannah from Blossoming Lotus, assisted by Talha Abubakr
- Aaron Adams from Portobello Vegan Trattoria, assisted by John McPhillips
- The winning team of Qausu AsaaseYaa from Asaase Ital Palace, assisted by Paapa Wastiq
I’ll repeat for a 104th time, this was a miniature, super dedicated volunteer organized, low budget version of the event we’d like to put together next year. Try Vegan PDX is so proud of everyone’s hard work and was thrilled to see this happen!! We had last minute emergencies, we had a small space, we had an overheated projector, we had electric burners set up on tables, and yet, the awesome of Vegan Iron Chef prevailed!!!
Thanks to all who came to the sold out event, participated, cheered, volunteered, hosted, ran around, designed, sponsored, took photos, recorded – Tim Kahn!!!!, donated, gave sporadic hugs, competed & live-streamed, bought raffle tickets & everything else! We had almost 1,000 folks around the world tune in, on top of our sold out audience!
Subscribe to our new Youtube channel and stay tuned to our Facebook for updates! We’re hoping to have video up soon, for now, you can watch Qausu’s crowning moment by our phenomenal host, Michelle Schwegmann, our enchanting Alton Brown/Vegan Food Guru Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and our adorable trophy girl, Alicia Cruz of Taqueria Los Gorditos. This finale video is courtesy of one of our Executive Sponsors, Lightlife.
The inspiring dishes:
Asaase Ital Palace:
- Caramelized Plantains And Chocolate Coconut Sauce With Microgreens
- Chocolate Groundnut Stew With Onion Rice
- Gari Peanut Candy Hearts With Cashew Chocolate Cream And Berries
Asaase Ital's Appetizer: Caramelized Plantains And Chocolate Coconut Sauce With Microgreens Photo by Lucas DeShazer
Blossoming Lotus:
- Chocolate Sweet Potato Red Lentil Dahl with Strawberry Chutney and Mole
- Tofu Tempeh Chorizo Lettuce Wraps
- Raw Avocado Cacao Pudding Over Orange Slices
Blossoming Lotus' Appetizer: Chocolate Sweet Potato Red Lentil Dahl Photo by Lucas DeShazer
Portobello Vegan Trattoria:
- Tempeh Date Skewers In Citrus Marinade with Chocolate Merlot Sauce
- Chocolate Gnocchi With Collards and Shiitakes
- Caramelized Banana Tart with Chocolate Ganache And Fleur Del Sel
Portobello's Dessert: Caramelized Banana Tart with Chocolate Ganache And Fleur Del Sel Photo by Lucas DeShazer
Our fantastic Vegan Celebrity Judges, along with super Judge Liaison Karla aka VeganShizz, Chad Miller of Food Fight! & Try Vegan PDX founder, David Agranoff:
Serious Judging at Vegan Iron Chef 2010: Joanna Vaught, Audience Winner Rusty, Jesse Ives, Brian Heck & Emiko Badillo, Photos by Lucas DeShazer
Music by DJ Surival Skilz & The Jet Boat Adventurer. Photo by Lucas DeShazer
Onto more photos:
Wes Hannah gets serious about slicing, at Vegan Iron Chef 2010. Photo by Lucas DeShazer
Operation gnocchi. Aaron Adams and his assistant, John McPhillips of Portobello Vegan Trattoria, at Vegan Iron Chef 2010. Photo by Lucas DeShazer
Hands Up, Knives Down! Vegan Iron Chef 2010 Photo by Lucas DeShazer
- Talha Abubakr of Blossoming Lotus Simmers, at Vegan Iron Chef 2010. Photo by Lucas DeShazer
The Secret Ingredient: Chocolate! Photo by Lucas DeShazer
Isa Chandra Moskowitz being amazing as our Alton Brown Vegan Food Guru. Photo by Lucas DeShazer
Michelle C delivers Blossoming Lotus' Chocolate Dahl. Photo by Lucas DeShazer
Asaase Ital's Entree: Chocolate Groundnut Stew With Onion Rice
- Swanky Plating of Tempeh Date Skewers In Citrus Marinade with Chocolate Merlot Sauce by Portobello at Vegan Iron Chef 2010. Photo by Lucas DeShazer
BloLo Tofu Tempeh Chorizo Lettuce Wraps Photo by Lucas DeShazer
More and more and more on the slideshow!
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Special Thanks to our Top Sponsors:
If you’re interested in getting involved next year in any way, please follow our facebook & twitter, or email me!
We’re already discussing who we’d love to see compete next year, when Qausu defends her title!
in that photo, michelle is actually taking my leftovers rather than delivering them. make friends with judges if you want to sample food!
oh, snap!
Am I misunderstanding, or did the audience not get to taste?
Wes actually finished up a few minutes early and gave samples to the audience!
However, we did not have the means, time or pantry wise, or event space wise, to feed the audience.
Next year, we’re hoping to do special tickets/raffle prizes/platings in our new space for audience members.
The judges were the lucky tasters!
Lucky, indeed! I heart Wes.
everything looks so amazing. well done to everyone involved. you rock.
Congrats on pulling off such a fantastic, successful event! It looks wonderful.
It was fun to watch & everything looked SO good!
AARRHGHGHG! I want to go to a vegan iron chef! That is so brilliant, incredible, genius! It looks like everyone had so much fun, how could they not with all that amazing food!?!?! What an awesome idea!
Everything looks so good!
This looks like such an amazing event!! I would love to put together an event like this in Chicago. What kind of space did you have the event in? How much did you charge to attend? Did you supply all the chefs with the equipment? OH I would love to do this in Chicago! I would definitely credit you for the idea
hi rachel! please feel free to email me and we can talk about this – getsconed@gmail.com.
we’re going to be putting together a How-To-Guide for other cities this summer!
would love to see Vegan Iron Chef regionals happen one day!!
This was indeed an incredibly well-supported event, and despite the little glitches that are to be expected during a first year event, everything came together really well!
I do have one critique: Keeping the audience engaged during the tasting is important, and the judging portion of the event fell a bit short on that account. We all know vegan food is tasty when well-prepared, and clearly all of the competitors know their stuff when it comes to preparation. I wanted to hear more from the judges than “Mmmm, mouth full can’t talk,” and “So good, so good.” One judge did try to describe some of the flavors and textures he was encountering, and that was great. The rest just ate and told us it was delicious. I think it’s important to have judges up there who know how to talk about food, not just eat it.
However, as I said at the outset it was overall a great event and I was happy happy to be one of the few who lucked out with a couple of tickets to the event. Yay Portland vegans for pulling this together!
Does anyone know what happened to the Asaase Ital cart? Apparently it closed last week, and has been replaced by a meatball cart.
Does anyone know if they plan to re-open it in a new location?? I sure loved that cart.
hey emily, sad but true, the family had to semi-suddenly close and leave portland. hopefully, they’ll return in the near future and open a cart or restaurant. as far as we know, qausu should be returning to defend her title of Vegan Iron Chef next summer, fingers crossed!