Undertow hosts 12th Annual Tailgate Chef’s Challenge Jan. 11 in Back 40 Courtyard

Undertow hosts 12th Annual Tailgate Chef’s Challenge Jan. 11 in Back 40 Courtyard

The Undertow Bar & Grill (25025 Canal Rd.) in Orange Beach will host the 12th Annual Tailgate Chef’s Challenge beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 11. The 14 cooking teams in the contest will be competing in the Undertow’s Back 40 Courtyard for a golden ticket into November’s World Food Championships in Indianapolis. In addition to the Golden ticket, the Challenge winner receives $500 and a trophy.
Tasting tickets are $20 per person and include unlimited samples and various door prizes, drawings, raffles and auctions, all benefitting this year’s chosen non-profit, the Children’s Rescue Initiative.
The brainchild of Undertow general manager Joe Coe as a way to give back to the community for providing assistance to him while he beat his battle with stage 4 testicular cancer, the Chef’s Challenge was previously held at The Keg.
“It’s wide open. The chefs can cook anything they want as long as they cook it out back,’’ Coe said.
“This community rallied around me when I needed help. So, I started this as a way to give back to people with cancer and, then this year, the Children’s Rescue Initiative,’’ he added. “This community is why I am still alive. I owe it to them to try to give back. We have always been a community that will rally around a good cause.
A mainstay in the service industry since moving to Pleasure Island from his Savannah hometown in 1992, Coe said he has tasted lots of good food during the Challenge, but his favorite was gouda cheese and Andouille sausage grit cakes that were chilled in a pan, then cut into squares, egg washed, fried and served under a crawfish cream sauce.
The Children’s Rescue Initiative’s mission is to rescue children and adults from labor slavery and sex trafficking by actively fighting the human trafficking epidemic.
For more Challenge info, call 251-981-3331.