If you’re the kind of person who likes to feel a burn when you eat, then the crew at Good Time Tricycle Productions has got you covered with its inaugural Chili Knockout and Spicy Food Festival — Atlantic City’s first spicy food celebration. The goal of this innovative festival is simple, said festival producer Jon Henderson: “We want people to buy a ticket and burn their faces off with delicious spicy food.”
Over 20 different culinary partners will be participating in this event, including festival partner Bourre, Duck Town Tavern & Liquors, Cuzzie’s Pizzeria Kitchen, Slab House, and Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall. In addition to enticing attendees with various multicultural foods that will heat up their taste buds, each spot will be giving attendees its own unique take on chili. And the best part? As an attendee of the festival, you’re the judge. “Everyone will get a lanyard with a punch-card,” Henderson said. Each attendee will be using that punch-card to do their patriotic duty of voting for best in show. And the stakes are high for this temperature-rising contest. The winner not only gets a spiffy championship belt, but also $5,000 cash to be split with a charity of their choice. “We want people to go on a culinary journey,” Henderson said. With all the culinary diversity in the Atlantic City area, he said that there’s always a new food to try, a new hot sauce to indulge in, a new way to experience a heated up flavor profile. There’s myriad ways to utilize fire-breathing foods and spices, and the Good Time Tricycle gang has made sure that they will all be showcased.
There will be many different activities for all to participate in, including a “guess the hot sauce” game, as well as a hot-pepper-eating contest, in which seven lucky attendees will get the chance to show off their fire-breathing skills. And what festival would be complete without a little beverage? Spicy cocktails will be available to test your resolve and open up new culinary doors.
Besides setting their taste buds on fire, attendees will also be able to experience Atlantic City’s burgeoning artistic culture. There will be dozens of local artists showcasing their art, performing their respective mediums, and presenting their art for sale. “We think it’s really important to embrace local culture, especially with such a fast-growing art culture here in Atlantic City.” In addition to artists, there will be a variety of different live music entertainment as well as opportunities to watch people actually play with fire. It will be a party-like atmosphere that the folks at Good Time Tricycle have designed specifically to bring families and the local community together.
For something as special as an inaugural spicy food fest, you can’t just plop it down in any old location. As Henderson and his staff are ever focused on supporting the local community, they’ve chosen a site that’s become a focal point of a vastly growing neighborhood of Atlantic City: the Orange Loop Arena on New York Avenue, a 60,000-square-foot site that has become vital to the neighborhood now known as the Orange Loop Area. The neighborhood boasts amazing eateries, coffee shops, and local shops. “We just want people to open new culinary doors for themselves. There’s always something new to try, and why not do it while supporting your local community?”
Chili Knockout and Spicy Food Fest takes place Saturday, May 21, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The entry fee is $25 per person for judges and $15 per person for those non chili folks, and children age 12 and under are free. For more information, call 609-385-0716 or visit the website.
— Dani Fleischer
