Every year the Iowa Restaurant Association, The Soyfoods Council and the Iowa Beef Industry Council organizes a statewide Culinary Competition in search of Iowa’s top chef. The competition is unique because the competing chefs must use at least six ounces of a non-traditional cut of beef for the main entrée and at least a ¼ cup of tofu in a side dish or sauce.
This year we’re judging beef sirloin – ball tip. Check out the graphic below to learn more about the ball tip cut.
The third location of the 2019 competition was at Rathbun Lakeshore Grille Restaurant at Honey Creek Resort in Moravia, IA with Chef Alex Beltran.
Rathbun Lakeshore Grille Restaurant
If you have never been to this area, I highly suggest making a trip down here in the summer, or fall. There is golf, hiking, boating, fishing, swimming and more!
Each one of those activies can make you really hungry – especially after an afternoon spashling around in their Aquapark. That’s where Rathbun Lakeshore Grille Restaurant comes in. The restaurant at the resort offers breakfast, lunch/dinner, dessert, kids’ menu, and a separate bar menu along with a full bar.
View their menus here.
The Competition Dish
The last several years that we have come down to Honey Creek Resort, I have always been impressed with Chef Alex Beltran’s team. He has a great team of chefs in the kitchen that compete with the best of the best. This year, Chef Beltran stepped up to the plate with a fusion dish.
The plate featured some amazing combination of flavors with a ball tip marinade consisting of soy suace, brown sugar, fish sauce, white wine, minced garlic, worcestershire sauce and a variety of other ingredients.
Other sauces on the dish included umami sauce reduction, and a tofu sauce reduction.
The tofu portion of the meal was delicious. Like I mentioned above, he created a tofu sauce reduction, but he also created a side of risotto with tofu and chorizo. I could have eaten a plate full of it. I’m basically a sucker for any type of risotto.
Take a look at the last couple of years of competition dishes from Rathbun Lakeshore Grille – they are all creative plates!
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