The Big Dance Restaurant Challenge
Big flavors at The Big Dance: The final three winners are...
Original Ninfa's on Navigation
The Tasting RoomPhoto by Jordan Chan
House of Blues
The judges' favorite: Original Ninfa's on Navigation's fajita with chips andqueso.Photo by Sarah Rufca
Paella by second place finisher The Tasting RoomPhoto by Sarah Rufca
Lobster tacos (and slider in background) from House of BluesPhoto by Sarah Rufca
It was perfect weather for a foodie feast at The Grove Wednesday afternoon as the remaining top contenders in The Big Dance Restaurant Challenge assembled to compete for the final three slots at The Big Dance Concert Series. The free event featuring top bands like Kings of Leon will take place at Discovery Green April 1-3 as part of festivities surrounding the NCAA Final Four basketball championship.
House of Blues, Original Ninfa's on Navigation, Quattro and The Tasting Room arrived with crews of chefs to prepare and assemble their potential concert food, and Del Frisco's and Sullivan's appeared with boxed food at the last minute. The last member of the elite eight, Arturo's Uptown Italiano, dropped out of the running after chef/partner Arturo Boada resigned last week.
The panel of judges included Maria Todd from Mix 96.5, Sarah Pepper from Hot 95.7, Katherine Whaley of KHOU-TV, Houston Restaurant Association president Mike Shine and other members of the restaurant association and NCAA Final Four Houston Local Organizing Committee, plus me. Instructed to judge on taste, local character, ability to serve crowds and portability, we got to work.
The big winner was Original Ninfa's, which offered up a pre-wrapped fajita with queso, pico de gallo and chips on the side. It was fresh, delicious (obviously) and easy to handle as well as representing the flavors of the city perfectly. Hey, if you invent the fajita, you don't let people forget it.
The Tasting Room finished in second place with a flavorful and colorful seafood paella as well as a duo of sliders that had bacon mixed into the ground beef. Rounding out the finalists was House of Blues, which served lobster tacos (which I found to be kinda gross) and a tasty trio of sliders — one kobe beef, one fried boudin and one pulled pork.
The three champions — alongside Restaurant Challenge champion Max's Wine Dive, which plans to serve their signature Max & cheese and a fried chicken lollipop at The Big Dance — will offer a nice variety for concertgoers while managing to show off Houston foods and flavors.
