It was a ‘chili’ night for Mars Light Up event
MARS — Twelve competitors stood ready to put their chili recipes and their reputations to the test Saturday night at the Mars Light Up Night.
Concocted by Mars business owners John Podolak of After Hours Tattoo, Robert Goupil of Grand Avenue Grille and Natasha Spreng of the Social Club Barber Shop, the contest brought the heat to the event, which ushers in the holiday season with a parade, tree lighting, vendors market and appearances by Santa and Mrs. Claus.
“We thought what would fit in with cold nights. It’s something different to bring into town,” said Podolak during preparations for the contest Saturday afternoon. “We hope to make it an annual event.”
For $3, attendees got a spoon to sample the different chilis and three tickets to place in the gift boxes of their favorite cooks. The chili chef with the most tickets won bragging rights and a trophy featuring peppers topped with a representation of a chili bowl and spoon.
Podolak wasn’t entering the contest but plans to offer an extra dish.
“We are actually creating an extremely hot chili that you’ll have to sign a waiver for,” he said for the more adventurous gourmands in attendance.
Pammie Erskine of Rowdy Roots Salon was pinning her hopes of gastronomic glory on her Texas chili recipe.
“It’s got no beans, and it has steak and ground meat and corn and beer,” said Erskine. “My dad won 10 chili cook-offs with it.
“I started it last night at 5 p.m. You can’t cook chili for more than eight hours or it’s ruined. So I cooked it for an hour last night and then simmered it all day,” she said.
Goupil was confident the chili served every day in his restaurant would top the competition.
“It’s my wife’s recipe. It’s what we serve in the restaurant,” he said. Raising funds for the Butler County Special Olympics was a special cause for him because his son, Clay, 26, participates in the Special Olympics in the hockey, soccer and basketball events.
“He’s got autism. He’s the reason we have the restaurant,” Goupil said. “He took an interest in cooking and went to cooking college and got his culinary degree. The previous owner hired him, and when she got sick, offered us the restaurant.”
Anastacia Nelson, librarian at the Mars Area Public Library, was entering her venison chili, according to her husband, Eric Nelson.
“It’s got sweet and hot venison sausage, ground beef, a jar of honey, dark lager, jalapeno peppers, onions and other seasonings,” he said.
Rebecca Ross, owner of Bebe Cakes, was entering what her husband Ken called “boilermaker tailgate chili.”
“We’ve got some beer in there,” he said. “We’ve made it before. Hopefully they like beer.
“We didn’t want to go too hot with it, but there’s a bit of spice in it. We didn’t want to burn anyone’s palate. We let it soak to let the flavors come out,” he said, adding that his wife has a culinary degree.
Jimi Dean, owner of Jimi’s Sunnyside Up Diner in Valencia, was pinning his hopes of victory on his “midnight chili.”
“It’s a 12-hour slow cook,” he said. “It’s got three different kinds of meat, two kinds of onion, five kinds of seasonings, and six different peppers with jalapeno the mildest.”
“It’s got a nice, little bite to it, but I put some cream cheese in it, which makes it smooth and you still get a bite,” he said.
Aly Dean, his youngest daughter, said, “It’s the same chili I grew up eating once I learned to like spicy. When I was little, it was a little too hot for me, but now I love it.”
