Epicurean Hotel Hosts Fourth Annual “Epic Chef Showdown” to Benefit Feeding Tampa Bay

TAMPA, Fla. (July 11, 2018) – The Epicurean Hotel is hosting the fourth Epic Chef Showdown to benefit Feeding Tampa Bay, the area’s largest food rescue and distribution organization. The Epic Chef Showdown is a seven-week competition pitting eight of the Tampa Bay area’s top restaurants against each other in a friendly cooking competition judged by a panel of local celebrities and notable food writers. Each week, beginning Monday, July 16, two competing chefs will receive a mystery box of ingredients not commonly prepared together, and will be challenged to create two unique dishes under the pressure of the clock. When time is up, each dish will be judged and one restaurant will be eliminated, with the winner moving on to the next round. Other competition dates are July 23, 30 and August 6 (qualifying rounds), August 13 and 20 (semi-finals) and August 27 (finale).

Participating local restaurants include Datz, FarmTable Cucina, The Mill, Mise en Place, Noble Crust, On Swann, Parkshore Grill and Rooster & the Till. Each week, the event will be hosted by Chef Jeff Philbin of “MasterChef” fame. On the first and last week of the competition, Maryann Ferenc, Feeding Tampa Bay’s 2018 Hunger Hero and CEO/proprietor of Mise en Place, will also join as emcee. Judges will rotate each week and include personalities ranging from Sheriff Chad Chronister to local on-air media talent including WFLA’s Stacie Schaible and Mike “Cowhead” Calta from 102.5 The Bone.

“We are thrilled that this unique event has been so successful on shining a light onto our incredible partner, Feeding Tampa Bay, and their continued mission to bring awareness to the hunger issues in our community,” said Tom Haines, vice president of operations, Mainsail Lodging & Development.

“Food brings people together – to celebrate friendship, to embrace family tradition, and to share moments that shape who we are,” said Thomas Mantz, executive director of Feeding Tampa Bay. “Epic Chef Showdown celebrates food in a unique and fun way, and our ongoing partnership with the Epicurean Hotel allows us to bring awareness to the issue of hunger in our community and ultimately give families in the Tampa Bay area the opportunity to reach their full potential because of a meal on their table.”

Epic Chef Showdown events will take place inside the Epicurean Hotel’s Epicurean Theatre from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. A limited number of tickets to the public are available for $125 (finale is $175), which includes a coursed meal with wine pairings, inspired by the participating restaurants and Élevage. Those without tickets can watch from the lobby area, where the event will be shown on big screen TVs. In addition, Epic Chef Showdown will be streamed live on Feeding Tampa Bay’s Facebook and YouTube channel and in the Epicurean Hotel guest rooms. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.EpicChefTampaBay.com.

Epic Chef Showdown sponsors include Florida Blue (title sponsor), Bank of America, Sysco, Harvard Jolly Architecture, Uriah’s Urban Farms, ChappellRoberts, Laser Spine Institute, Coca Cola Beverages Florida, Tampa Bay Lightning, Jackson Family Wines and the Tampa Bay Times.

Located in the trendy Hyde Park historic district of South Tampa, Florida, the food-focused Epicurean Hotel features a state-of-the-art culinary classroom known as the Epicurean Theatre; Élevage, a restaurant where classic recipes are re-imagined; EDGE rooftop bar; Chocolate Pi pâtisserie; Bern’s Fine Wines & Spirits wine shop; Evangeline full-service spa; and 5,200-square feet of flexible event space. The Epicurean Hotel was developed in collaboration with Mainsail Lodging & Development and the legendary Bern’s Steak House and is the first newly constructed hotel property in the United States to join the prestigious Autograph Collection® of Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR).  For reservations, please call (855) U-AWAKEN (829-2536) or visit www.EpicureanHotel.com. For more information on Feeding Tampa Bay, visit www.FeedingTampaBay.org.

###

Feeding Tampa Bay

Founded in 1982, Feeding Tampa Bay is the largest food rescue and distribution organization in the community, serving a food-insecure population of more than 700,000 people in a 10-county area. Feeding Tampa Bay recovers surplus food donations from local growers, manufacturers, supermarkets, and organized community food drives and distributes it to those in need through a partnership network of more than 500 faith-based and other incorporated nonprofit hunger relief organizations. Over the past five years, Feeding Tampa Bay supplied more than 100 million pounds of food, enough to provide more than 3 million meals every month to those who would otherwise go hungry.

About Mainsail Lodging & Development LLC
Mainsail Lodging & Development is a Tampa-based hospitality company that develops and operates lodging products in the Southeastern US and the Caribbean. Their property portfolio includes three Autograph Collection® hotels – Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina (ScrubIsland.com), a private island resort in the British Virgin Islands; the boutique food-focused Epicurean Hotel (EpicureanHotel.com) in Tampa, Florida; and Waterline Marina Resort & Beach Club on Anna Maria Island, Florida; in addition to Mainsail Beach Inn (MainsailBeachInn.com), a boutique beachfront hotel on Anna Maria Island, Florida. The company also operates corporate housing throughout the Southeast, exclusively managing the Florida market for Oakwood Worldwide® under both its ExecuStay® (ExecuStay.com) and Oakwood® (Oakwood.com) brands, while also operating ExecuStay in Georgia, portions of Alabama, and The Carolinas. Two additional Florida hotels are planned for 2018 and 2020, respectively – Fenway Hotel in Dunedin and Luminary Hotel & Co. in Fort Myers. Just north of Tampa in Pasco County, Mainsail Lodging is also developing a 128-room Residence Inn in conjunction with an indoor sports complex, opening in 2019. Mainsail Lodging’s corporate charity is Feeding Tampa Bay – the largest food rescue and distribution organization in the community. Mainsail actively supports the cause through a variety of employee and guest programs ranging from packing and sorting at the warehouse to annual events including Epic Chef Showdown. MainsailHotels.com