OK, so it would be presumptuous to really “review” an event that we put on, so this is more of a summary than a ranking.

Thanks to all who came out to the 7th annual Fiery Foods Festival at the North Market last weekend.

Kudos if you participated in our salsa, hot sauce, chili, hot pepper eating or wing eating contests. Extra kudos if you supported any of our fabulous merchants and fiery foods vendors by making a purchase.

Let’s give a big “cheers!” to those vendors who ventured in from far and near to sample their piquant concoctions for you. Blaze Gourmet trekked down I-71 from Cleveland; Crazy Uncle Jester travelled I-70 from Dayton; Heartbreaking Dawns drove in from Rosendale New York; Tracy from Jac’s Tailgaters wins the “furthest travelled” award for coming up from West Monroe, Louisiana; Mild to Wild crossed the state line from Indiana to join us; Patter Fam Sauces came from Wheelersburg, Ohio; Montezuma Brand, Urban Chefs and Ronz Sauces are all from Columbus, Ohio. We were thrilled to host them all and to make some new acquaintances who we hope to see back soon for other events (mark your calendars for Memorial Day weekend for a two day Grillmasters Festival).

During the course of the day many a prize was awarded. We commenced the day with a homemade salsa contest. Sandi Kraft from Portage, Indiana took first prize with her spicy, sweet salsa. Donna Potts of Reynoldsburg claimed second place with her “poor man’s caviar with mango” salsa. Thanks to additional participants Shanda Behrens, Jessica Drusbacky, Al Goldenberg, Betty Huddleston, Bill Kraft, Tony Kosloski, Tim Nelson, Carson Quillin, Nancy Radke, Philip Radke, Steve Rosegger (with help from Albe Harlow), Senta Rousseau, Paul Waltermeyer and Todd Voss.

Always a fan favorite, the Chef Chili Challenge maxed out its registration this year with entries from fifteen fabulous local restaurants. Joining the competition were Alana’s Food + Wine, Basi Italia, Burgundy Room, Café Corner, Candy Shack, Chef Butcher’s Creole Kitchen, Holy Smoke BBQ, Latitude 41, Marcella’s Polaris, North Market Poultry and Game (2009 Champs), O’Shaughnessy’s Public House, Pastaria, Two Caterers and Chefs Ken Smith and Michael Ciotola (formerly of Luce and LaScala). Retired Chef Michael Ciotola took second and proved that his culinary skills are still sharp with his Pork, White Bean and Green Chili Soup topped with Cilantro Lime Cream. Newcomer Reymundo Rico from Café Corner in Harrison West (recently under new ownership) won the boxing robe and was declared North Market Chili Champ 2010 for his Chili Pazoli. The mixture of slow-roasted, garlic-rubbed pork, cilantro, red pepper, sea salt and pork sausage basked in a “pazoli sauce” made with guajilla and ancho chilies, roasted purple tomatoes, roasted garlic, red onions, hominy, kidney and black beans was divine. As if that was not enough the dish was served with a side cup of spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate complete with homemade marshmallows. Kathleen Day, the new owner of Café Corner is carrying on the Nowak brothers tradition of creative cuisine nicely!

Then there were the plucky participants in the Amateur Chili Cook-off. In second place was former participant (and second place winner) Everett Smith with his Steak Poblano Chili. First prize went to Valerie Belt with her “Nacho Mama’s Chili”. Her winning dish included Baltika Beer from Grapes of Mirth, Jose Madrid’s salsa verde plus CaJohn’s chop house seasoning and salsa kicker. Thanks to Bethann Cannell, Betty Huddleston, John Kark, Matt Latham, Tim Leigh (with Shawn Wilmoth), Wanda Faye Little, Rich & Cindy Terapak, Todd Voss, Donna Wenzel and Buzzy Zorich for playing along with us!

Next up we held the Amateur Hot Sauce Contest. Stephanie Wilt walked away with the main prize for her “Smoky Garlic with a Kick” sauce. And second place (and the accompanying prize) was congenially shared between David Huddleston for his “Hudd’s Fury” hot sauce and Jim Sulayman for his “Flytown Fire #1″ hot sauce. Thanks to Anand Merchant, Jonathan Passow, Alex Silbajoris and Todd Voss for their mouth-watering hot sauce entries as well.

There were 15 intrepid entries to the Hot Pepper Eating Contest. Each participant was given 10 huge jalapeno peppers with the goal of devouring them first, or at least the most in four minutes. What resulted was a tie between Seth (last name unknown) and Jeff Stevenson of Crazy Uncle Jester’s with seven consumed each. The tiebreaker was determined by a single pepper given to each to be eaten the fastest. It should not be surprising that the gentleman in the jester cap came away the victor in this battle.

Last, but far from least the Hot Wing Eating contest culminated the day’s events. Fifteen participants fought their way through CaJohn’s assault after assault of spicier and spicier wings and sauces. Only a few of wing gladiators bowed out and the finale was determined, after 6 previous rounds of two wings each, by a speed round of five wings fastest consumed. Jason (feel free to fill in a last name for me as note-taking was scarce at this point), a last-minute entry took home the title for this event.

I am still awaiting photos and promise to update this post once I have them. The full set of images will also be on the North Market Flickr page here soon. In the meantime feel free to send me photos or videos to add here!

It has been an incredible couple weeks of media coverage for the North Market! Just this Monday we were featured on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch - above the fold even! Check out the fabulous full article by Robert Vitale here>.  Accompanying the article on Dispatch.com was an outstanding video by photographer Doral Chenoweth that shows off the market and our merchants in all of their glory. View the video here>. While they were at it they created a smokin video on CaJohn that debuted on the home page yesterday here>.

This morning we were on television with the  dynamic Johnny DiLoretto (he’s awfully energetic for someone who gets up at 4 a.m.) to promote the Fiery Foods Festival. Johnny featured CaJohn’s Flavor & Fire, Hania’s Olde World Cuisine and Holy Smoke BBQ.

Saturday we escorted Tom McNutt around the North Market to give tips on what to give your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day. From fresh flowers at Market Blooms to truffles from Pure Imagination Chocolatier to wine from Grapes of Mirth and sweet endings with desserts from Omega Artisan Baking, we had plenty of ideas to share for those last minute shoppers in a quandary.

Last Thursday Columbus Alive gave North Market Poultry & Game’s Kitchen Little some well deserved praise for their homestlye cooking. Article here>.

On the same day The Other Paper gave their newest neighbor, Hania’s Olde World Cuisine, some made from scratch love too. Read about it here>.

And two weeks ago market patron favorite Lac Viet Market who is spreading their wings and opening a new place up on Bethel Road received some kudos from Gary Seman Jr. at ThisWeek News  here>.

Thanks to everyone who shares our love of the North Market and helps spread the word about us!

CupcakeCampColumbus, will return to the North Market on Sunday, March 14 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Dispatch Kitchen and “this time it’s frostable.” Organizers Carmen Owens of Surly Girl Saloon, Kiesha Jenkins-Duffy of the blog 52 Weeks of Baking and the North Market’s Mary Martineau are offering a festive Saint Patrick’s Day and spring-themed celebration of cupcakes.

Approximately forty different flavors of cupcakes created strictly by local amateur bakers will be featured. This round’s classifications include:

Best St. Patrick’s Day Cupcake: It’s just three days before “the wearing of the green” and your cupcake should pay tribute to this fanciful day of Irish frivolity. Give us green icing, shamrocks or leprechauns, but leave the orange at home!

Best Use of Bailey’s Irish Cream or Bushmills Irish Whiskey: We’re guilty of another Irish-themed category here, but for this one we want you to incorporate some fine Irish libations. You can choose to include Bailey’s Irish Cream or Bushmills Irish Whiskey into your recipe or, heck, go hog-wild and use both!

Best North Market-Inspired: The North Market features a little of everything and so should these cupcakes. Cupcakes inspired by Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream flavors were popular in the last round. How about using one of our ethnic eateries for inspiration? With Thai, Vietnamese, Mediterranean, Belgian, Indian, Italian and even Polish cuisine on market there’s a world of inspiration here!

Best Spring-themed: The crocuses will bear their delicate little heads any day now and we’re sure the brilliant gold forsythia will bloom shortly. In the meantime, bake up a batch of cupcakes that reflect the rebirth of our greenery from the cold winter.

Best Vegan: No animal products permitted. Bring us the tastiest cupcake you can create without using milk, eggs, butter or any other animal product.

Local celebrities, bakers and other experts will be on hand to judge each category and fabulous prizes will be awarded to the winners. Applications for cupcake bakers and tickets for cupcake eaters are now available. To register to be a cupcake baker visit the CupCakeCampColumbus website. BAKER REGISTRATION FILLED. If you’re not a baker, but you are an avid cupcake eater and you would like to attend, tickets are $10 with the proceeds benefiting the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. TICKETS SOLD OUT.

 Tickets are limited and the event has sold out each time so get yours early!

Finally, if you’re all about quantity over quality, perhaps you’d like to enter the Cupcake Crush. In this contest the first intrepid eater to finish a set amount of mini cupcakes provided by the Surly Girl Saloon will take home a special award. Registration for the Cupcake Crush will take place on the day of the event.

CupcakeCampColumbus is sponsored by Surly Girl Saloon, 52 Weeks of Baking, North Market, CrimsonCup Coffee, Bailey’s Irish Cream, Bushmills Irish Whiskey and Snowville Creamery. Judges and prize sponsors include AmyD, The Hills Market, Market Blooms, Pattycake Bakery, Sassafrass bakery, Spinelli’s Deli, Wholly Craft. The event will take place on Sunday, March 14 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Dispatch Kitchen of the North Market. Admission is free for registered cupcake bakers, but space is limited. Only 100 tickets are available for $10 each to the general public. Keep up with the ongoing details of CupcakeCampColumbus on the website or visit or on the North Market events page.

Dear North Market Shopper,

In the past couple weeks while wandering the Market I’ve noticed Michael and Colleen from The Greener Grocer in discussions with some of our local growers.

These meetings are part of an important dialogue between growers and sellers. More and more, we find that growers and sellers are collaborating to provide the freshest, best tasting, most unique fruits and vegetables possible. As we focus on eating locally it’s important that we have strong connections to our growing community. The Greener Grocer and their commitment to locally grown produce provides you with the opportunity to eat the best food possible every day.

Many of us do not realize that farming is a year round endeavor. It doesn’t begin when the first warm days of spring arrive, nor does it end with the first frost. Growers spend the winter preparing for the season by tending to their fields, tuning up equipment and procuring seed stock for the next crop. Many growers are beginning to actively plant starters in hoop houses that help extend both ends of the growing season.

We heartily salute our growers who spend the entire year to make sure that every Saturday during the growing season, you’ll have the widest choice of the freshest, best tasting produce in town.

We’re also planning for the upcoming Farmers Market season, as well. In the next few weeks we’ll be meeting with our community of growers to talk about plans for the season which will include our standard fare of festivals that celebrate everything Ohio grown. Planning, propagating and growing is a year round activity at the Market, too.

On another note, Saturday, February 20th we’ll once again host the Fiery Foods Festival. It’s the best way ever to beat the winter blues.

Also, check out our website for the latest news on the North Market School of Cooking. With leadership from Columbus Dispatch Food Editor, Robin Davis, we have an impressive line-up of classes and demonstrations from some of the finest chefs in town.

Keep warm and keep our growers in your thoughts. Theirs is a noble profession and they are among the hardest working people you’ll ever meet.

Dave

Spring seems so distant, but the North Market is here to help you melt away the winter blues and blahs with our 7th annual Fiery Foods Festival on Saturday, February 20th. Boasting everything from tropical entertainment to tongue-tingling foods the Fiery Foods Festival will put you in a sunny frame of mind!

Want to get directly in on the fiery foods action? Customers can take a shot at fame and fortune (OK, infamy and North Market gift certificates) in a number of contests. There’s the tried and true Amateur Salsa Contest. If you’ve got a good mix of chunky or pureed fruit or vegetable salsa, put it to the test against other homemade salsa makers. Or maybe you like to play with fire? For you we have the Amateur Hot Sauce Contest. He/she with the supreme salsa or hot sauce concocting skills will take home $100 in North Market and CaJohn’s Flavor & Fire gift certificates. Or one can prove their chili preparing proficiency in our ever-popular Customer Chili Cook-off. The competition will garner the first place winner $100 and the runner up $50 in North Market gift certificates. Finally, those with iron gullets can register on the day of the event for the Hot Pepper Eating or the Wings of Fire wing eating contest. Familiarity with the term “capsaicin” should suggest that neither of these contests is for the faint of taste bud, but victors will take home a plethora of CaJohns’ products as prizes.

In its fifth year the Chef Chili Challenge pits local chefs against one another as contenders for the title “North Market Chili Champ 2010,” a special trophy and $200 in North Market gift certificates. Participating chefs (at the time of press release) include representatives of Basi Italia, Chef Butcher’s Creole Kitchen, Latitude 41, Jerry Bullock, the returning champ from North Market Poultry & Game, Pastaria and Two Caterers. We are sure to have many more chef entrants by competition time!

“Many people don’t realize that Columbus is home to the most-awarded fiery foods purveyor in the country, CaJohn’s Fiery Foods.” said David Wible, Executive Director of the North Market. “We’ve been holding the Fiery Foods Festival since before CaJohn was a merchant at the market, but he has always been a participant. His presence as a merchant certainly spices up the Fiery Foods Festival even more.”

Fiery Foods Festival Schedule:
• 8 a.m. North Market opens, fiery foods vendors on premises
• 9 - 11 a.m., musical entertainment by the Andrew Hartman Trio
• 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., face painting by Rita
• 10 a.m., Amateur salsa-making contest in the Dispatch Kitchen
• 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., Mark Wood Fun Show, cowboy tricks and balloon shapes
• 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., musical entertainment by The Piano Peddler
• 11 a.m. Free maracas, sombreros, balloons and chili-pepper shaped cookies for the kids (while supplies last)
• 11 a.m. Professional Chili Cook-off featuring chilis by local chefs
• 12 p.m. Amateur Chili Cook-off featuring chilis by customers
• 1 p.m., Amateur Hot Sauce contest in the Dispatch Kitchen
• 1 - 3 p.m., musical entertainment by the Island Breeze Duo
• 2 p.m., Hot pepper eating contest in the Dispatch Kitchen
• 3 p.m., Hot wing eating contest in the Dispatch Kitchen
• 3 - 5 p.m., musical entertainment by the Gadabouts
• Hot and spicy foods featured throughout the North Market all day

The North Market Fiery Foods Festival on Saturday, February 20 is a free event. Festival activities will take place from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Market hours are 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. To participate in the Salsa Contest, Hot Sauce Contest, Customer Chili Cook-off or the Chef Chili Challenge, and for more information, please call (614) 463-9664 or visit www.northmarket.com. Sign up for the Hot Pepper and Hot Wing Eating Contests will take place in the Dispatch Kitchen on the day of the event. A tasting fee of $5 enables onlookers to sample all of the chilis by both professional chefs and amateur contestants while supplies last. ###

Always fresh, always local….just a couple of the reasons to love the North Market.

Hubert Wilamowski owned a restaurant in Poland, therefore he’s exceptional at serving up hearty, authentic, made from scratch daily specialties from his home country. From classic pierogies to handmade kielbasa to stuffed cabbage, if you are missing the comforts of the old country, Hania’s Olde World Cuisine is one of the only places in Columbus to offer up abundant Eastern European fare.

It’s a family affair at Stan Riley’s Holy Smoke BBQ biz in the North Market. Stan owns the business and does the smoking of brisket, pork, chicken and more. Stan’s sister, Amanda, and his brother, Neil, help out by manning the booth and serving up the hearty fare.

Jean-François Flechet brings a taste of his home country, Belgium, to the North Market in the form of delectable Liege-style waffles and crêpes. Taste of Belgium’s gaufres de Liège are a dense, sweet, caramelized treat!

From a colorful array of Fiestaware to new Chefwear and professional restaurant serving ware, there’s a little bit of restaurant-everything at The Source by Wasserstom. Browse the cheapie 4 for a dollar bin, pick up a platter for your next party or select some glasses for everyday use. There’s an always-changing assortment at The Source that makes it ever-entertaining for those who like to entertain.