Local chefs win 2 medals at the 2023 Devour Culinary Classic in Phoenix

The Gastronomic Union of Tucson (GUT) proudly represented the city’s culinary scene at this year’s Devour Culinary Classic tasting event and competition in Phoenix.

Devour took place at Desert Botanical Garden on this past weekend with a panel of judges and 77 participating restaurants. Judge’s scores were calculated based on taste, presentation, degree of difficulty, and creativity.

The GUT chefs took home two awards, actually, from the big event and one of those is a brand-new award called the Heritage Medal. This new award is given to the best dishes with ingredients that are indigenous, heirloom, low-water, desert-adapted, or locally sourced.

The GUT team of champions took home the trophy for their Grilled Picanha Tacos. Additionally, GUT won a silver medal for their Goat Cheese + Benne and Quinoa Tartlet, which is made with tequila, membrillo (quince), and saguaro seeds.

The team of chefs consisted of Kelzi Bartholomaei, Obadiah (Obie) Hindman, Juan Almanza, Roderick Ledesma, Sarah Lamberth, Nohemi Estrada, and Devon Sanner.

“I am so proud of our Tucson chefs for showing up and showing out like this,” said Sanner, GUT chef and co-owner/chef of Zio Peppe. “We also served The Last Monsoon cocktail, which was the TCOG Cocktail of the Year, developed by Alfredo Aguilar for Zio Peppe.”

The four judges at this year’s big event were Washington Post national food reporter Tim Carman, Food & Wine writer Nikki Miller-Ka, Eater SF editor and former Arizona Republic dining editor Lauren Saria, and former Arizona Republic food critic Howard Seftel.

“The team of culinary judges knew going in that eating their way through Devour 2023’s weekend lineup of 70 dishes would require a single-minded devotion to duty,” said Seftel. “They also knew it would take several hours of discussion and debate to hand out the medals. What they didn’t know going in was just how varied and imaginative it was all going to be. But when you get to eat everything from vegan oyster mignonette and veal schnitzel nuggets to peanut butter and jalapeno jelly hamburger and Wagyu beef cheek empanada, it hardly could have been otherwise.”

To learn more about GUT, read our August 2022 article, “A pop-up dining experience with the Gastronomic Union of Tucson (GUT).” For more information about next year’s Devour Culinary Classic, visit devourphoenix.com.