Episode Transcript
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The team that brought in the heat, that brought in the texture, that
brought in the pizazz was none otherthan oh Admigos. And welcome to the
Attoo Houston Amigos podcast, a podcastfor young professionals in the marketing and advertising
industries were learning to navigate their earlycareers. My name is Jacob Dantone,
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the current audio chair of Attoo Houstonand the producer of the Spine program.
And today you're stuck with me,guys, I don't know what to tell
you. I decided to crun asolo. I wanted to try something different.
So here it is. Chili.The spicy, sweet, delicious,
meaty treat is a Texas staple.You add some corn bread and friedo's and
a bunch of other topics of thatand you have a whole meal breakfast,
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lunch, dinner. I don't judge. The origins of such a delectable meal
go back as far as seven fivehundred BCE. Fast forward a few thousand
years to the streets of San Antonioin the late nineteenth century, when street
vendor is known as the Chili Queens, set up open air stalls, tantalizing
passerby with bowls of spicy, stewedmeat. This marks the beginning of the
chili's journey into the heart of Texascuisine, a fusion of Mexican and American
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influences that would forever change the culinarylandscape. As the twentieth century came around,
Chile's popularity soared and it found itsway into cans, becoming an accessible
and convenient meal for Americans on thego. Can chili became a pantry staple,
reflecting the changing lifestyles and culinary preferencesof a rapidly modernizing nation. Jumping
ahead to the present day, andat TO Houston would host what is known
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as a Great Chili cook Off,an event that would bring together ad agencies,
young professionals, and all around chililovers alike. Now, this was
not the first cookoff at TO Houstonhas hosted Over the years. They have
hosted various cookoffs involving nachos, andfrom what I'm told, in an event
that's called oyster. Oh I'm sorry, I'm being told we can't use that,
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so we'll just skip over the name. Anyway, enough of my rambling.
The Great Chili Cookoff was a hugesuccess. Six teams came to compete,
and they brought the heat. Thepun is very much intended. However,
as with all competitions, there canonly be one winner, and we'll
reveal what that is in a fewmoments. But first, former ad Toube
president Guido Falcone and myself managed tosit down with the three judges and get
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their thoughts on the event and thechili. We will first be hearing from
influencer Fabiola from the Houston Food Sisters. All right, so guys, welcome
to our Houston podcast. Amigos Fabiola, nice to meet you and Guido and
you are with Houston Sisters, right, yes, content, we go around
to the restaurants and Mavis content andthen we also do like reviews and stuff
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for the food. You're like thenicestter. So there's five of us.
I'm the oldest of all five.I would consider myself the nicest one.
I hope they don't watch this one. I am the nicest one. Yeah,
so well again, thank you somuch for me And what if I
judge this here on our fo cuffSon you said a couple of pertions for
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you. Why were you expecting fine? When you get like obviously it's a
chili cookout. But when you thinkingyou might find we're gonna flavor what kind
of man? Well, honestly,yeah, so sure, diversity. I
knew that, I was. Everybodyhas a different palette, you know,
so I knew that the chili wasgonna be different. I knew that everybody
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has their own style of cooking aswell. So yeah, it met my
expectations. Actually, everybody was onpoint. It was. It was.
It was a really fun experience.Awesome. Yeah. Man, you know,
basically I assume you can kind ofuh judge cook up before. Actually
no, this is my first secondbecause I think food almost on a daily
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basis. I go to restaurants andI review the food while i'm there.
You know, I'm not actually likejudging with points and stuff. But I
also I'm I'm a chef, likeI cook food as well, but I've
never done a judging this this soto you was the most important name was
texture. The spies for me flavorfor me flavor, Flavor, Flavor and
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texture are the top two most important. The third, I would say is
presentation. Okay, yeah, actuallywe talked a lot that too. Yeah,
I do think a lot of timefocused so much of flavor and forget
that. Thanks you. It's sucha important fire, yes, because you
feel that you chill it, youtaste it right right, and chili has
a very specific way that it needsto be. So yeah, those those
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points are very important. Can youtell us of all the teams that you
tasted today, which one you aboutto be? But which one is score
highest? Obviously we don't know ifit's one yet. Yeah, but this
might give us a head of asit's. Lopez was up there. They
came to fight, yes, andtheir presentation was you know, they they
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they actually took a little bit oftime on their presentation, so yeah,
it's really funny. Next time theythey one that was one of the things
that the Dutch savesitation video. Yeah, it's it's a big yes. Before
I let you go, Uh doyou believe that? What kind of food
do you think you can participate ina cookof? For it? Mexican food
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is my specialty, yah, butuh, I'm I have a palette for
all Italian Mediterranean food, barbecue,especially being from Texas barbecue that we did
a natural cook cut very against nationalnatural naturals Okay, very next year up
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calling me up please, I'll behere. Thank you, Thank you.
Next up is Chris Rankle, webdesigner at the Houston Chronicles. Hey,
guys for hearing a game. Igot one of our judges, Chris Ranco.
Hey nailed it, Chris, Thankyou so much for being one of
our judges. Chrisy is with theHouston Chronicle, which is awesome. That's
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my favorite newspaper. Yeah. Sobefore we start, so, have you
ever done any sort of food cookoff, taste tasting or you know, judging.
I've done judging, maybe not foodspecifically. I have attended quite quite
a cookout. Yeah, that's awesome. And so when you came here,
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what kind of what were you expectingto find, like as far as like
flavors or like different like many typesof cooking or whatever. Obviously it was
a sorry chili cookoff. Were youexpecting anything weird? Eating new it was?
There was some really interesting chilis.I think somebody made there's a brisket
choice, really interesting, not gonnalie. I was expecting a little bit
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more spice from some of them,Like yeah, we also went around tasting
and we were like, yeah,somebody need a little or spicy and it
So when you were what you weretasting right when you were judging what was
more important? It was the taste, the texture, the spice. I
know, for me, I thinkthe good thing, the key ingredient to
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a good chili is your texture tosoupy and it's kind of like chill that
territory. But you know, yeah, that's actually what we said. We
did find some of them to bea little too soupy. Uh, And
I was like, this is notreally chili, but you know, Phis
own And then obviously we do notknow who's one yet, we'll find out
that soon. Which are the teams? Was there was there a team that
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really grabbed you that you were like, man, this is maybe the one
that you rank highest. Yeah,I was like, h I really liked
Tea. Yeah. Yeah, thepresentation and just the chili itself is really
good. And they had yeah wewere talking about that too. Yeah.
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Yeah, and Nanny had the brisket, which I thought really elevated it takes
actually to another level. He's agreat cook too, So yeah, absolutely,
there's other two that we me andJacob here we both actually really like
those two. So it really feelslike, yeah, that's a good contenders.
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Uh. And then, just beforeI let you go, if you
were to participate in any sort ofcook off, what kind of what food
style do you think you could reallyshow up for brisket? I grew up
going to a lot of brisket cookoffs. Yes, you got it. Yeah,
awesome. Well, thank you somuch for being one of the judges
this one. I hope you enjoyyour time here, and you know,
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maybe you can join us again nextyear when we do this again. Absolutely,
thank you so much. Than lastly, but certainly not least, it's
Candae Pittman, the former att toHouston member, current af Houston President,
and soon to be second Lieutenant governorfor District ten. All right, guys,
we're back with the last of ourjudges, Candy. You guys love
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her. You know her? Yes, I've heard her on this podcast before.
Yes, I've seen her events.Former wait, former af president.
Right hip, friends, let's getthat right. So I'm a former at
former ACTU president. I am thecurrent Okay, I could remember. I
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mean it's connected, I could rememberwhat your years. But hey, then
incoming the newest thing is incoming secondlieutenant governor. Oh that's right for District
ten. So yeah, b C. Yeah, that's someone who really believes
in the club. Yeah, likewe all here do. I mean,
that's why we're here, so we'llcome out of support. That's why we
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have this podcast. Cash starner AFhas helped me. I've done this event.
It's one of my favorites. Soyeah, exactly happy to be here.
So let me get started on this. Have you ever judged a cookoff
before? No, I've only coordinatedand played cookoff. Yeah, you never
actually judged it. So how wasit? How was it being from the
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other side? It was fun.It's fun to actually try the entries.
Yeah, and then have the teamspresent to you. Yeah, they have
so much spirit and it's great tosee them all like just come together and
work together to create a group products. Yeah, that's it's really cool.
It's someone that really showed up todaywith custom made t shirts, custom made
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tents. Yeah, I'm glad thatthat the team, that the team got
together and decided to do this.So what were you kind of expecting when
you came here, Like, wereyou what kind of foods? Obviously it
was a chili cookoff. Were youexpecting maybe suddenly be very spicy, maybe
a little more like ticker or youknow what, what kind of what kind
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of food were you speaking to findhere? Even cook off is it's the
chef's interpretation right of that food.So I think I kept my expectations right
open, expecting to be surprised.Of course, you definitely want chili with
flavor. You want a little spicebecause occasion I love a good spicy chili,
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right, and it's never hot enoughfor me. But I was expecting
to I wanted to see each chef'sidea of what chili is to ye,
that's all. That's also a reallycool thing to think about it. Think
about that myself. So I thinkyou might have already answered this. But
when it comes to tasting the chili, what was the most important parameter for
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it? Was a texture, taste, spiciness, heat. What were you
looking for? There's a balance offlavor and heat, because if they can
get the balance correct, it's notoverly spicy, yeah, and it's not
bliant like you know, it's ait's a balance and it's very hard to
achieve. So the team that reallyachieved that for me is who I who
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really stood out? All right?So that's actually my next question. We
obviously do not know, we donot know yet who else one We will
know by the time it still comessouth. But which team? Really?
Wo would you which I don't wantto say, really everybody else? Okay,
really so many friends down there.I have a friend Will we'll we'll
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be bliping. Yeah, we'll bleepit out and will know. Yeah.
For me, it was it wasoh yeah, but I think it was
oh all right. Yeah, theyhad a good they had good stuff.
I very much liked that. Theyhad like a kick to it. It
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stays with you after a little fora little bit after. Yeah, I
really liked it too. I wasafraid of and then Ellen c for the
corn bread was a nice touch.And they came to fight because they give
any champion. I think they hadabsolutely all right, we'll believe all of
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that. Okay, So this isa quick question. I've been asking this
to all of the job just beforeyou leave. If you were to participate
in a cookoff, what's kind ofwhat foot style you think you could really
uh fight out fight with, youknow, if you wear the cooker the
cook So for me, I likea good gumbo. So I know the
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history of this man and it usedto be called you have to leave this
out of Oyster Orgy aren't, whichis why my T shirt says, so
my own professor creates this T shirtand he has passed the main recue,
professor Coulpepper, but it says ourgumbo Chilian beans are so good you'll have
a taste food Organs because it andit was a chili gumbo and beans cook
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off, and we had some phenomenalinterries with even a wildcard. So like,
I was always excited to enter thegumbo because the family's we Louisiana.
He makes a great gumbo, sothat would be mine. That's what you
think. And remember we do gombanext year right in. Yeah, you
never know. Maybe I'll go backto his spruits. We'll just change the
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name because the kids are listen toye. I mean. Also, it's
not gonna get through anybody's like firewallemail. We did it, Danny.
It has a team down there.He was on he helped us coordinate it.
Then at Lucklin's downtown. Yeah,and he worked at the city.
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So that's an oyster Orgy immediately gotlagged. Yeah, I did change the
name to say, oh oh yeah, it's so funny. Thank you so
much for shing with us and thankyou so much for me wonderfu uh what
if our judges and also one ofour biggest supporters of course, you know,
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oh no, what it's time,guys. We're outside in a bug
guess a tectas locus. I waslike, locas, there's a kada.
I can't tell from faraways, butit's the kida. Oh man, this
is a lot more action than theusual lise in this podcast. It attacked
me. Yeah, but thank youso much, Kenny. We have such
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a great time and home you hada great time too. Thank you guys.
Yeah, thank you Guedo for helpingme get these interviews together. Now
I was able to sit down withAlex Alu, the former ad to President
who at the time was the currentad to president. However, I lost
the recording and was unable was unableto use it. Things happened. I'm
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I'm only human. I'm sorry.But nonetheless, Alex and the team did
a great job coming together to createthe social media assets to teach. Sure
it's the bandanas and all the otherthings needed to pull something like this off.
It was truly impressive to see everyonecome together and mix and mingle and
network and most importantly, eat somechili. So, without further ado,
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let's find out who won. Comingat you live from a few weeks ago.
Take it away, Ray and Alex. This is the moment. This
is the moment, and Alex hasall of the official Wow, look at
those numbers. They actually did realmath for this whole thing too. But
here let me show you. Thisis kind of cool. Real math addition,
subtraction, and multiplication. I likethat. So today is the day
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to judge. But when you getright down to it, folks, aren't
all of our chili's amazingly good?Yeah, seriously, there's a reason we're
all here today. That's ford twoadd to Houston is an amazing, amazing,
amazing club. If you are hereand you're not a part of that
two, you should be. Ifyou're here and you're not a part of
the American Advertising Federation, you shouldbe. So today, the fact that
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you're here is wonderful. So thankyou, thank you, Thank you to
every one of these teams and allof the people who helped with this,
all of the judges and everybody whois part of this whole thing. We
have some very high end trophies foryou. And we're gonna hand those out
here in just a moment. Butthere's a story behind that. So what
order are we going in? Youknow, yeah, we'll be going in
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third, second and first, justto build up the suspense. Sure.
Oh the shirts, the shirts,yeah, Oh, the spirit obviously,
Dylan, you know, everybody didtheir part. I definitely give props to
you for making your team custom shirts. That's fantastic. Hierarchy, your ted
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looks phenomenal, pabla and etc.Love the Bear he definitely fits the Woods
vibe. So other than that,really, you know, I don't figure
that Lopez to Brennan's of Houston.Okay, just want you to know that,
you know Lopez in particularly if theycame early, they put up They
put up a really good shoke.They were the life of the party,
and any big I thought you werethe life of the party. Alex.
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Come on, let's not forget MikeDanny, because those guys on the other
side of the Parky lines. Thisis the competition, the East versus the
West, or this would it bethe North versus the South? Oh?
Thank you, have a nice day. These are really cool. They're gone
to a great expense for these twoI want you to know that. Let's
go for it absolutely. So there'sa fun story for each trophy, and
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we'll start off with the third prize. So third place goes to Drumwell,
please Ellen c a Grid. Iknow when I found out the score,
I knew this to be I sure, I'm glad. I'm not announcing that.
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Yeah, I know you made itthird. You know that competition was
fierce. It was Danny brought brisket. And speaking of brisket, Danny,
you came in second out of nowhere. I like the horse race last weekend,
huh, out of no But theteam that really put it all together,
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that brought the heat, Oh wellyeah, actually I'm sorry. Fair
enough. Well then let's let's whydon't we announce gold? Why don't we
announce gold here? Real quick here, let's finish this. Yeah, fair
enough, Okay, sorry, it'sbeen days, it's been a long day.
So the team that brought in theheat, that brought in the texture,
that brought in the bizzazz was nonone other than et cetera. Congratulations
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to all of you guys. Nowthere's a story behind your amazing awards here.
Okay, you know, supply Chainshortage. You've heard of that charm
before. Oh you a Spirit Award? Okay, I'm so sorry. We're
not done yet. I've not doneyet. Hold on. So additionally,
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we are doing a Spirit award theteam that brought in the most passion and
determination to the event itself, andthe win for that is Hierarchy WHOA.
Thank you all, so so somuch for being here today, and please,
if the teams can just come uphere and take your trophies, I'll
be more than glad to get theteam. Thank you. Thank you to
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Rachelans for being the NC for theevent. Thank you to all the teams
that came out to compete. Thankyou to Alex and the add to Houston
team for putting this whole thing together. And again, thank you to our
three awesome judges, Fabiola, Chrisand Candy. Thanks again, Guido for
helping me get these interviews together.And lastly, thank you, dear listener,
for hanging out with me and followingme to take you on this journey
of the Great Chili cook Off untilnext time they get away, Guido,
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thank you for joining us today.The add to Houston Amulos podcast is produced
at Radio Lounge. Add to Houstonis a collaborative collective of young communications professionals
Page thirty two one under we're lookingto make a difference in the industry.
If you would like to becoming atmego join us at at the number two
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LinkedIn at add the number two Houston. Thank you for listening.