Chili, salsa and beer

The Great Petaluma Chili Cook-Off offers tasty samples and spirited competition for a good cause

April 27, 2005

By DANE GOLDEN
FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER

A yearly competition heats up again this Sunday at the eighth annual Great Petaluma Chili Cook-Off, where more than three dozen teams will offer samples of their chili and salsa recipes in a series of tasting competitions.

Additionally, more than a dozen breweries will be on hand to help as many as 1,500 attendees quench their thirst after the seasoned samplings. The event raises money to support Cinnabar Theater's Youth Program.

Plan to arrive hungry at Sunday's cook-off, which will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. in Herzog Hall and the adjacent Behrens Park at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds.

And bring your taste buds, because you'll be asked to vote for the People's Choice Awards for Best Chili, Best Salsa and Best Beer. Judges will be awarding trophies for best entry from local restaurants, businesses, service organizations and individuals. Teams also compete for the awards of Best Costumes, Best Booth and Best Spirit. There are also vegetarian and overall Grand Champion awards.

Some well-named individual entries this year include the Manchilian Candidate, Doc Wagner's Spine Tinglin' Chili, and the ever-popular Tree Huggin' Hippie Chili team, a participant for all eight years of the event.

While the competition has no formal rules of ingredients, the judges generally prefer the flavorful, rich and meaty recipes, as opposed to the extremely hot and spicy ones. So if you can't take the real spicy stuff, don't worry, there will be plenty for those with milder tastes.

Matt Patterson, leader of the Petaluma Firefighters Local 1415 entry, says of his team's recipe, "It's a very closely held secret." The team won last year's Service Organization and People's Choice awards. They also won Best Booth, due to their booth having part of an antique fire engine with real sirens.

"We bring our families and always have a good time," Patterson says.

This year's cook-off has already equaled last year's $16,000 fund-raising total. "Chili Empress" and event organizer Laura Sunday spoke to longtime friend Marc Pearlman, president of Rhode Island's discount retailer the Ocean State Job Lot, about the event. Pearlman made Cinnabar an exceptional offer: if they could raise $7,500 in cook-off sponsorships, his company would make a donation to match. Cinnabar and local businesses rose to the occasion, raising a total of $8,500.

"This could be the most successful fund-raiser in the history of Cinnabar Theater," says Sunday.

Since 1985, the Cinnabar Young Rep has been providing a full, year-round program of classes, workshops, performance opportunities, summer camps and festivals. Under the guidance of Sheri Lee Miller, students ages 4 to 18 learn all aspects of stagecraft, including American musicals, baroque opera, comedy improv, children's chorus, Shakespeare and Opera in the Schools. The chili cook-off helps raise funds for scholarships to this program.

Laura Sunday's 19-year-old son, actor-comedian Gabriel Sunday, now a resident of Los Angeles, is an alumnus of Cinnabar's youth program. He's just opened a show for comedian Gallagher, and recently appeared in the Disney made-for-TV movie "Now You See It."

While not all graduates of Cinnabar's youth program will go on to work in television, Laura Sunday says that young people who participate in the performing arts learn self-confidence, which they can use throughout their entire lives. They also learn how to listen and respect each other.

"Those are incredibly useful skills to have," she says.

Over the years, the Great Petaluma Chili Cook-off has created some hearty, if good-natured, rivalries. The good friends at the Willowbrook Alehouse and Cattlemens Restaurant have taken to "kidnapping" items from each other's restaurants and holding them ransom before returning them at the cook-off. One year, Cattlemens stole a female mannequin from Willowbrook and sent them photos of her dressed up as a Cattlemens "Bean Girl." Another year, the Willowbrook gang stole a favored cowboy lamp from Cattlemens, sending a photo of the lamp sporting an Ale House T-shirt and drinking a beer.

The cook-off makes for good fun between the two friendly restaurant staffs. "We keep doing [the cook-off] because we love the rivalry," says Kate Abila from Cattlemens.

"And the ongoing saga will be kept going," says Willowbrook's Gary Simontacchi of the rivalry. He says the Alehouse cook-off team consists of some "very loud people enjoying themselves. We have a lot of fun."

Winners will receive one-of-a-kind collector's trophies designed by Sonoma County artist Jerrie Patterson, who crafts scrap metal and wood into whimsical designs. This year's trophies include copper wire, a big plastic chile, and a plumbing wheel to signify turning up the heat. Second-place and third-place trophies will also be handed out, along with participant ribbons, which include re-used CDs in their design.

Entertainment will be provided by the Red Hot Silly Peppers band, whose performance will be interspersed with hip-hop, country line, and tango dancers, as well as a martial arts exhibition. Each group will both perform and give lessons to attendees.

Admission is $18 for chili and salsa, and $30 (plus ID) if you want to do some beer tasting, too. To charge your tickets to a Visa or MasterCard, call the Cinnabar Theater box office at 763-8920 weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (or leave a message after hours). Cash and checks, but no credit cards, will be accepted at the gate on Sunday.

(Contact Dane Golden at argus@arguscourier.com)

GREAT PETALUMA CHILI, SALSA AND BEER TASTING

When: Sunday, May 1, 1 to 5 p.m.

Where: Herzog Hall and Behrens Park, Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds, East Washington and Payran streets.

Admission: Chili and salsa tasting $18. Chili, salsa and beer tasting $30 (plus ID).

Advance tickets: Call 763-8920 with Visa or Mastercard weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Event day tickets: Cash or checks only

Information: www.greatchilicookoff.com

Benefits: Cinnabar Theater's Youth Program.