Head-to-Head in Culinary Conquests

Visitors to tasting events come prepared to eat. But Tuesday night, they were encouraged to vote.

The first-ever public Food Fight, hosted by daily e-newsletter Tasting Table, took place at the powerhouse Arena in Dumbo Tuesday night, with 20% of the proceeds benefitting Food Bank for New York City.

Guests were equipped with a ballot featuring 10 essential foodie questions such as: sweet or savory brunch? Crispy or chewy chocolate chip cookies? Soft or hard shell tacos? Local restaurants offered a chance to taste both sides of each argument.

"These were some of the epic or classic culinary battles of our time," said spokeswoman Samantha Bernstein. "Our readers are really passionate and really active and we knew they'd have a lot to say."

Stinky Bklyn, a local cheese shop, staged both sides of the cheese battle: sheep's milk vs. goat's milk. On the sheep's side, the pitch sometimes veered from strictly culinary attributes.

"I think it's better because of the flavor profile, the nuttiness," started connoisseur Luke Johnson, as he served cheese slices and spoonfuls of barely sweet ricotta with a hint of lemon. But he had another reason: "They are adorable."

Unfortunately, the creamy tang of the goat cheese—served in three different styles—proved insurmountable.

The owners of BrisketTown, a new restaurant in Williamsburg, also waged war against themselves. But it wasn't much of a fight.

Daniel Delaney, a former blogger who taught himself how to make central Texas-style barbecue and now smokes all his restaurant's meat in a pit in Bushwick (with imported wood from Texas), made a show of advocating for the lean cut. But his words were belied by the phrase plastered across his table: "Fat is the new black."

The 26-year-old shrugged with a smile. Fatty brisket—which managed to avoid seeming greasy and melted against the soft cushion of bread and gently pickled cucumbers—won handily.

In battles pitting restaurants against each other, some strategy seemed apparent. The Meatball Shop ran out of its pork-and-parmesan cream sauce sandwiches in little over an hour. Did they deliberately prepare fewer sandwiches to appear more popular than competitor Num Pang, a reporter asked co-owner Michael Chernow?

"No, we're just a little bit more efficient," he said, grinning. Joking! "It just takes us half the time to prepare a sandwich that it takes them."

In fact, he admitted, after sampling Num Pang's pork banh mi, "I'd probably vote for them." He wasn't alone: banh mi won the night.

At the cookie station, Jacques Torres brandished soft, chocolate-laced cookies as though they were pom-poms. Was he having fun?

"Oui!" exclaimed the exuberant Mr. Torres. What did he put in his cookies?

"Goodness," he declared. "The cookies have goodness in them and you can dip them in red wine."

He nodded emphatically at a reporter's raised eyebrow.

"It's unbelievable. Please try it. Red wine. Italians dip the biscotti into sweet white wine; the French into red wine. Try it. Forget the milk for the kids. Red wine!"

At the next table, Kathleen King from Southampton's Tate's Bake Shop seemed content to let her cookies do the talking. Still, she was realistic about her chances.

"A lot of people love crispy, but the people who love chewy aren't going to come over here," she said.

In the end, chewy prevailed.