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Alyx Chandler
Ben Vaughn's food of the night. Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
The teams smile for a picture at the end of the night and competition.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Alan Nelson, executive chef at Nabeel's Cafe & Market in Homewood, prepares food.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Featured is Head Chef Joseph Mitchell, who has helped with the event since its start.
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Alyx Chandler
High schoolers volunteer to bus tables and help at the event.
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Alyx Chandler
Food by Alan Nelson, executive chef at Nabeel's Cafe & Market in Homewood, and his team.
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Alyx Chandler
The silent auction items.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef Chairman Kent Howard thanks the sponsors for the event
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Wine samples were served all night.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Wine was served all night.
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Alyx Chandler
Prep.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
The wine pull.
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Alyx Chandler
Featured is Brittany Garrigus, pastry chef at Satterfield's Restaurant in Vestavia Hills.
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Alyx Chandler
Featured is Ben Vaughn, executive chef at Inverness Country Club in Hoover, and his team.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Featured is Sean Butler, executive chef of Revolve Kitchen & Brew in Hoover.
To say that this year's annual Iron City Chef winner was a close call would be an understatement. Iron City Chef winner Sean Butler, who is the executive chef at Revolve Kitchen & Brew in Hoover, beat out Ben Vaughn, the executive chef at Inverness Country Club in Hoover, by a mere two points from the judges.
The 2017 Iron City Chef competition, hosted by the Vestavia Hills Rotary Club, took place on Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m. at the Culinary & Hospitality Institute at Jefferson State Community College.
The event is Vestavia Hills Rotary Club's biggest fundraiser, and event chair Kent Howard said that this year was no different. The event brought in over $18,000 for the organization, as well as provided a $1,000 scholarship for culinary school to the winning chef's sous chef.
"All the chefs did a great job," Howard said. "I heard all night everybody really enjoyed everything that the chefs created and served up."
The other two competing chefs were Brittany Garrigus, pastry chef at Satterfield's Restaurant in Vestavia Hills, and Alan Nelson, executive chef at Nabeel's Cafe & Market in Homewood.
The event began with a silent auction at 5:30 p.m., and continued with wine tasting throughout the course of the night, as well as an extensive tray of cheese, crackers and fruit. After that, guests were invited to the seating room, where the four chefs occupied each of the corners with their prepared dishes. People could come and go as they pleased to the four stations to try the main dish and main desert by each of the chefs.
Howard said the event is "all hands on deck" for the Jefferson State culinary program. Each chef had four to six culinary students that worked with each of the chefs to prepare the food throughout the day and during the event.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Ben Vaughn gets ready to serve his food to the judges.
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Alyx Chandler
Sean Butler gets ready to serve his food to the judges. Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Sean Butler and Ben Vaughn compete for Iron City Chef 2017. Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
7 of 14

Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
The judges.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
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Alyx Chandler
The crowd watches the two chefs compete.
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Alyx Chandler
Sean Butler cops food int he allotted 30 minutes.
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Alyx Chandler
Ben Vaughn laughs with the crowd as he competes.
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Alyx Chandler
The judges decide between Sean Butler and Ben Vaughn.
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Alyx Chandler
Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
About 300 people showed up to the annual event this year, Howard said.
"Cooking has become a big thing in the last couple of years," Howard said. "The big publicity and popularity started years ago when people were fascinated by chefs competing with one another and going against one another. That has grown in popularity."
After everyone tried the various dishes, they cast their vote for who they thought were the top two chefs. This year, the vote was cast for Butler and Vaughn. Following the announcement, the two chefs competed for the top spot with the help of one randomly picked Jefferson State sous chef student each. The kitchen in which they competed was windowed, where the audience could watch. A few people were even allowed to sit in the kitchen during the 30-minute competition.
Butler and Vaughn were each required to make a pork dish using only the supplies and food that was placed beforehand in the kitchen. Three judges then graded the chefs on various aspects of the meal, including taste and presentation.
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Alyx Chandler
Sean Butler hugs his sous chef after they win the competition.
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Alyx Chandler
All four chefs await the announcement. Iron City Chef 2017, which took place Saturday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m., featured special dishes by four local chefs. The night ended with a cook-off between the two top-voted chefs, with three judges then deciding who was crowned Iron City Chef.
This year's sponsors included Western Market, the Culinary & Hospitality Institute at Jefferson State Community College and Alabama's Channel 13.
Stay tuned for next year's Iron City Chef competition.