Sotto Sopra’s Chef Bill Crouse in a head to head culinary competition with Kali’s Chef Bill Martin

On Tuesday, May 25th, Sotto Sopra’s Chef Bill Crouse is competing in the Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament. It is a head-to-head competition of regional chefs where they have one hour to prepare a three course meal. Like March Madness, the winners of each competition move on to the next round of culinary competition. Chef Bill is inviting you to come out and cheer him on.

Chef Crouse is pitted again Chef Brian Martin of Kali’s Court and Mezze, two excellent chefs, cooking up great dishes for the chance to move on in the competition and go for the best Mason Dixon Chef title.

Are you a cooking voyeur?

Want to watch the competition, possibly judge? Share food war stories with other guests while enjoying a wonderful meal. This will be a convergence of food enthusiasts. This is live, better than Top Chef or Hell's Kitchen. There will be no editing out the expletives here or funny out take moments.

Guests attending this exciting event will be more than just spectators. In addition to enjoying their choice of a gourmet four-course meal, guests will also have the unique experience of witnessing these two spectacular area chefs battle it out in the prep kitchen right on the main dining room floor.

As an added bonus, 25 audience members will participate each night of the competition as judges, tasting the chefs' creations and voting right alongside of our expert judging panel. Finally, and best of all, guests will be supporting a local charity since 10% of the net proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to Moveable Feast. Moveable Feast is a local non-profit Baltimore charity that provides meal delivery service to homebound People Living with AIDS/HIV, women undergoing breast cancer treatment as well as their families.

The competition is running for 16 weeks and tickets will include a choice of four-course meal, the chef competition, and a donation to Moveable Feast. Dates have been announced, and tickets are available for purchase. Be sure to keep up-to-date on all of the results and match-ups by signing up for our email updates, or following them on FaceBook or Twitter.

Basic Competition Rules and Scoring System

• A total of 32 teams will compete for the title of Mason Dixon Master Chef 2010 during the tournament.
• Participating Teams will consist of one executive chef and one sous chef each.
• Two teams will compete each night of competition.
• Competing chefs are executive chefs currently working in the Baltimore/Washington Metropolitan area.
• Competitions will be held each week on two different evenings for 16 weeks.
• Chefs will have one hour to plate up three courses an appetizer, entree, and dessert.
• Each Chef will also produce 25 amuse bouche size portions of their entree to be passed out to 'Judge Experience' ticket holders as well as randomly selected audience members. These 'Guest Judges' will be able to score courses on a scale from 1-10.
• Each chef team will plate up three plates of each course to present to the judging panel (three judges per competition night).

Scoring

• Judges will score the three courses based on plate presentation, creativity, and taste. Each judge will be able to give a total of 8 points for plate presentation, 8 points for creativity, and 9 points for taste.
• The combined points will be added up from all the judges for a total score out of a possible 75 points.
• The remaining possible 25 points will come from the Guest Judges score cards, and will be calculated as a percentage of the average score each chef receives.
• Scores from the Expert and Guest Judges will be added together, and the winning score and Chef Team announced. In the event of a tie score, the Expert Judges' decision will be final.

What: Mason Dixon Master Chef Competition
www.masondixonmasterchef.com/index.php

Where: Truffles Catering at the Belvedere

Event Timeline:
5:00pm - Happy Hour
6:30pm - Dinner Served to customers
8:00pm - Competition Begins
9:00pm - Judging Begins