And the Winners Are…
And the Winners Are…
GOACC hosts Chili Crawl to benefit ‘Pawsitive for Heroes’
Erica Dreher of GOACC is pictured with Fuzzy Smith, general manager of Hammer Back.
OLEAN - More than 60 participants took to the town Saturday to try out chili at seven different restaurants: Four Mile Brewing Co., Hammer Back Bar & Grill, Napoli Pizza, Randy’s Up the River, Talty’s Irish Pub, Union Whisk(e)y and Village Green.
The participants had rating cards to judge each chili based on Visual appeal - chili should be attractive and inviting to eat; Aroma - chili should smell appetizing; Taste - chili should be delicious and balanced; and Heartiness - chili should be substantial and nourishing. They were based on a system of 1 as need improvement to 5 as best.
Overall best chili based on the four areas above went to the Hammer Back with their basic chili of ground beef, beans, dice tomatoes and loads of spices, which teamed up perfectly with their presentation buffet of fresh baked cornbread, sour cream, rice, cheddar cheese, oyster crackers and sliced bread. Coming in second was Union Whisk(e)y, and third place went to Four Mile Brewing Co.
Individual winners based solely on one of the criteria went to: Visual - Napoli Pizza; Aroma - Randy’s Up the River; Taste - Union Whisk(e)y; and Heartiness - Talty’s Irish Pub.
Participants were given an awesome chili vessel, 7 chili vouchers and a chance to win $500 in Shop Olean Gift Certificates. The winner: Kathy Paciorkowski of Olean.
Besides all the deliciousness that participants enjoyed during the crawl and the crazy forecast of weather, the big benefit was to the Western New York Heroes program called ‘Pawsitive for Heroes’. The program pays for service dog training as a result of the funds raised from the event. The dogs and their owners go through various courses together, properly preparing the dogs to serve those who’ve served.
Chris Kreiger Sr., Iraq War Veteran, President and Co-Founder of WNYHeroes, Inc. stated, “Saturday was awesome - we met a lot of great people to promote this great cause.” Chris brought down four (human) participants in the program with three of the service dogs.
“Two of the places - Union Whisk(e)y and Four Mile Brewing Co. - had bison meat in their chili; Talty’s and Village Green had corned beef in their concoctions, Randy Korokowicz’s wife has created chili for the restaurant for the past 30 years - same recipe presented at the crawl as well as on their menu; and Ed and Tony over at Napoli Pizza served up their chili in a bowl created out of and featuring their yummy pizza dough!” reported Meme Yanetsko, GOACC COO.
The Olean Sports and Social Group and the Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce teamed up to present this third food event. Yanetsko added, “Although we were very low in count based on past crawls (144/200), the participants enjoyed their crawl.”
The chili vessels are available at the Chamber in a limited supply for $10. Most of the seven locations will also be selling them. “The crawl is a fundraiser and these chili vessels will cover the expenses of the event in hopes that there are funds leftover to gift to the veteran’s service dog program,” reported Erica Dreher, GOACC Member Services Manager. Please stop in the Chamber and pick up yours today. For more information, call 716-372-4433 or email member@oleanny.com.