COLTS NECK – When you entered Huddy’s Inn on Sunday afternoon, there was no question what day it was.
With the aroma of cooking beans, beef, even venison and other meats, and peppers, wafting through the inn, 11 contestants anxiously awaited the outcome and the judge’s and customers’ tasting of what they thought would be this year’s winning chili.
Huddy’s Inn, 420 Highway 34, conducted its 18th annual Chili Cook Off, a favorite event locally that fills the bar and restaurant for the afternoon.
Ned Haberstroh, Huddy’s general manager, said the cook off was a way to draw people in after football season. “After football there isn’t much to do,” Haberstroh maintained. And the event has become “the busiest Sunday of the year,” he noted.
Jacqui Dick, a Tinton Falls resident and loyal customer, laid claim to coming up with the idea. Back then, Dick said, the bar manager had asked Dick about what to do to bolster business post-Super Bowl. Dick made some fliers advertising the event telling people to “Get hung by the tongue,” by the entries, Dick recalled.
Dick, who used to live in Houston, Texas, said she even got a couple of friends to send their chili from the Lone Star State to participate.
Usually the event is held the Sunday following Super Bowl; but the restaurant had to change the date this year because of a private party booking. And this year it was competing with the Belmar St. Patrick’s Parade and a snowy afternoon, which Haberstroh said probably accounted for fewer contestants and a little smaller than usual crowd. Usually Huddy’s would get about 16-20 entries.
But contestant Tom Orgo, who has entered for a number of years and happens to be deputy mayor, was confident this year about his entry. “There’s less people,” which he hoped would improve his chances.
He’s used various meats in the past as well as a blend of seasonings containing Cajun chili peppers called “Slap Ya Mama,” from Louisiana.
This year’s selection was made with Angus beef, Orgo believing “beef is best.”
And not to make it too spicy. “Medium heat,” he said, explaining, “They want to taste the heat but don’t want it to stay there.”
Township resident Alex Wilk decided to try his hand this year for the first time. Wilk had been coming for about five years noting, “It’s a fun thing to do.”
He confided his special ingredient: venison bacon. Along with that, Wilk recommended keeping it on the mild side for most tastes. “You should be able to eat a bowl of it without needing a glass of water next to you,” he advised.
Among this year’s three judges were Peggy D’Amico, Freehold, and Lisa Ivanicko, Farmingdale. The two friends are past winners for their “road kill chili.” Initially Ivanicko didn’t want to say what made her recipe special—“If we tell you we’ll have to kill you and you become part of the recipe,” she said, hopefully joking.
She gave in and said theirs could have bison, venison even moose on occasion.
“The best part is making it,” D’Amico confided. “We work on it all day and it’s so much fun.”
The third judge was Laura Kolnoski, who writes for The Two River Times.
The chili selections are judged on taste and texture, consistency, heat, culinary skills and presentation and appearance, Haberstroh explained.
There is a first, second and third place winners, who win $150 cash, $50 and $25 gift certificates, respectively. And there is a $25 prize for people’s choice, according to Haberstroh.
For Haberstroh, who tastes them all (but doesn’t judge), the best chili is “a combination of meat and heat.”
And this year’s first prize went to Orgo. “I guess it was my year,” he offered.
Next year’s contest will be in a new location. Huddy’s Inn, which has been at this spot for 31 years, is relocating with owners Sal Asaro and Ray Longobardi constructing a facility on seven acres at 20 East Route 537, at the Route 34 intersection.
The new location should be open in June, Asaro said.
– By John Burton
