Row 14 Snags Chef N Brew Title, Blue Balls Included

The judges have spoken in the Chef N Brew face-off held yesterday at the Oriental Theater. A panel of five judges that included Daliah Singer of 5280, Lori Midson of Cafe Society, Elizabeth Wossner of EatDenver, as well as Dan Rabin of Culinary Colorado and meadmaker Ron Scovil selected the Row 14 - Caution: Brewing entry for the Best In Show award. Twelve local chefs and just as many breweries vied for that title.

Jensen Cummings, the chef at Row 14 and future meatball shop owner at Slotted Spoon, concocted the Mighty Morphin Power Ranger's Meatball for Chef N Brew. The Power Ranger colors had to be represented, so Row 14 came up with pink for rabbit, white for pork, green for shiso, yellow for Chinese mustard, and blue for what else but balls. Cummings could not resist the blue balls inference, he says, "since the pairing was the Green Tease." That teaser brew, a pale ale infused with tea and fermented with two types of sake yeast, came from Caution: Brewing, a brewery that opened in May in Denver.

Aside from great bites and brews from local chefs and beer-makers, the festival featured a silent auction and raffle in partnership with Diggity, a Denver non-profit that promotes rewarding group events where people of all ages get active and get to know each other.

· Sneak Peak: Chef N Brew [EDen]
· The Slotted Spoon: Ready To Rock The Meatball [EDen]