Yelpers Chili Cook-Off!!!

This event was fun and super casual all rolled up into one… Thanks to the extreme overachieving of Beth D. — who showed a knack for planning, organizing and executing a plan where every detail was COVERED = very Kelly-​esque of you!
I have never cooked in a competition before, nor have I cooked 6 pounds of chili in one sitting. When Sat AM rolled around and my chili tasted a bit flat, a second spice dump was required. Needless to say, I was nervous going into this.
I arrived late (a mere 15 minutes before the ‘Start’) and quickly set up on the lone remaining table. Beth D. was a dahling and quietly coaxed me — despite my touch of anxiety — into moving to a table more within the traffic flow. So while I greatly appreciated her patience with me… let me tell you — it worked out SO much better! This move allowed me to an eye on Ron U., Alyssa and Melissa & Phil — which made the event much more enjoyable!
Because this is November and it seems like a very social media thing to do — let me list ad nauseam The Things I am Thankful For from this First Inagural Event;
— To Third Base for the facilities and incredible service from Heather & Amber,
— To Mother Nature for the wonderful fall weather!
— To the Chili gods for helping my chili to end up edible,
— To Beth and Victoria for putting together Gift Bags for 1^st 3 places!
— To everyone who entered and brought some wonderful recipes!
— To Courtney for supporting the concept of no beans in chili, ‘
— To Melissa (and secret weapon Phil) for being gracious Winners,
— To Ron U. for entertaining the crowd with his special ‘specimen cup’ for beer — although it WAS uncomfortable watching him drink out of it,
— To Alyssa B. for bringing her A game of smack talk… oh, and her cleavage (which reminds me of a new category for next year!),
— To all the Unilocalers who came out and enjoyed the chili and outdoors with us!
For me (and it’s probably worth the paper its written on) the Category winners were;
Best Spice; Chris B’s Superbeans was juuuust right!
Best Meat; Alyssa’s cubes were super tender
Best Gravy; Superfans — which I REALLY liked, despite having beans!
Best Pre Game Smack Talker; Melissa Z.
Best Game Time Smack Talker; Alyssa by a country mile
Best Beer drinker; Ron U (and his special ‘cup’)
Best Beth D. support crew; Victoria, Courtney, Stella and Kristin.
Can’t wait for Next November, because its ON now people!

I have been meaning to get to this review for a week. I know I am a little late to the game, but wanted to say thanks to Beth and everyone that helped put on this great event. It was nice to meet folks that I joke around with on various threads and some new friends as well.
The variety of chili’s was spectacular. I really enjoyed all of them to be honest, but I have always loved chili and homemade soups.
Third Base was a great location for us Football fanatics and brew enthusiast. The service was great and the staff was friendly.
Looking forward to another fun event like this!!!

Late posting my review! This was so much fun! Beth D, whens the lasagna cookoff? Pizza cookoff? Kimchi cookoff?! Let’s go!
This group of Unilocalers brought it like they were cooking for their future inlaws for the first time… delish dishes, with all the fixings, and not a one i didn’t enjoy. Everyone had their own little pitch, and Alyssa B’s PITCH was the best! Where’s her cleavage and pearl award?! ;)
I started by enjoying HOTSHIT and meatbeans. I felt meatbeans was going to be tough to beat, but they were all so good! Odies Chubacabra and sauce was delish, plus he brought child slave labor that were like chili serving machines… Awesome! My mouth was slowly catching more fire as I proceeded down to Dear, beer, and Tears. Were the tears for 3^rd place?!? I hope not, I loved your chili Lee!
Third Base was cool… screens outside aren’t really for watching football unless it’s night time? It matters not, Beth knows the owner and she’ll get them changed. Friendly staff, didn’t try the food, but very cheap drinks.
Chili cookoff was a shredded cheese and diced onion success in my book!

I would like to say thank you to Third Base for allowing Unilocal to use their great patio and company name as a co-​sponsor, and to all those «Chili Heads» who competed in the 2013 Unilocal Chili Cook-​Off event.
I greatly appreciated Beth D’s contribution, because she is the main reason we were able to pull off this really fun event. I’m not certain but I believe this was the 1^st annual UYE Chili Cook-​Off and we were able to attract 11 incredible teams to compete. With the great turnout that we had I am hoping Unilocal and Beth make this a yearly event.
The casual layout was perfect for folks to sample the competitors’ chili. Small cups and little shot-​sized bowls were available for free spooning, chip-​dipping or straight-​up face-​slurping chili eating. This easy, sample approach happened to serve dual purposes; it provided chili connoisseurs a chance to gradually arrive at a favorite, and urging front-​loading consumption for those in attendance who might have later been beverage-​addled by a lack of food.
Many on hand weren’t shy about showing their preference for their favorite chili, while others put on their poker face and took the voting seriously. What makes up a great chili? Beans, peppers, onions, spices, veggies, beef, Italian sausage, venison, or even goat? Who knows, nonetheless they were all very good. Sure, we all have our likes and dislikes in this perfect fall/​winter dish, but I have to say everyone was a winner. Sure that sounds like a copout, except it is the truth. I truly enjoyed all of the chilis’ and on any given day would have been satisfied with any one of them as my meal of choice.
The competition was definitely heated. My absolute favorite part of the event was that all the contestants went around, talked with each other, and tasted each other’s chili. Although, we had some smack talk on the Unilocal threads, we were all blown away and enjoyed each other’s chili, well maybe not everyone liked that we had chuck roast and Italian sausage in our chili, but we didn’t mind because we won! This was a great event and there was some awesome chili.
Thank you to Beth, Victoria and everyone who came out and participated and I hope to see you next year.

Beth D. sure knows how to organize a chili cook-​off — I can’t wait for the next one! Third Base was a gracious host and the waitresses were lovely and all smiles. (Those mimosas were delicious.)
To everyone who participated — y’all kick ass. You all brought your A-​game and it made it damn hard to pick a favorite. I almost didn’t cast a vote because it was so hard to choose! You all make some fantastic chili and you are all winners in my mind.
For fun, I made up my own categories. You win nothing but laughs, but that’s fun too, right?
Best Team Name: Meatbeans! (Seriously can’t stop laughing.)
Best sides: Marilee’s cheddar bay biscuits, Flaming Saddle’s pepper crackers, and Odie’s yogurt options. (See? Y’all make it so hard to choose!)
Best shit-​talker: Alyssa B.
Best table decorations: Team Texitaliano and Team Poncho Chili Secret Sauce
«You got me to try new things!» Award: Odie for getting me to eat goat and Lee for getting me to eat deer. I’m expanding those horizons, y’all.
Cutest Kid Award: Every single kid there. Y’all make some super adorable children. Need a babysitter? You know where to find me.
If you put beans in your chili and I ate it, you also win an award. Like my shirt says, «I love beans, but not in my chili!» (Seriously, though, everybody’s chili was delicious, even the kind with beans.)
Special shoutout to Melissa and her husband for sharing even more family recipes with a few of us after the event was over. I see some recipe sharing in our future.
You are all amazing and everybody’s chili was delicious and, remember, I almost didn’t even vote because it was so hard to choose.

Okay, this entire event caught me by surprise:
1. First, I’ll pay my highest foodie tribute to the Unilocalers who put themselves and their chili out there to be judged — I wish I had brought a bowl of rice. There was some really remarkable stuff for us to sample, and I have a theory that good Unilocalers are secret closet chefs. There are reasons Unilocalers I know watch cooking shows, and it’s not about pining to be the next Food Network star — we just like being good at what we do.
2. Second, Sports bars are more alike to me than different, but this particular Southpark Meadows Third Base venue had the coolest outdoor patio I’ve ever seen, and the most efficient and cheerful staff working with us on a busy game-​day Sunday. Heather & Amber simply rocked it.
3. And finally, let’s talk about Beth D: She rammed this event through like Sherman’s Chili March through Georgia, and didn’t even break a sweat — well, as far as I could tell. The coolest compliment I heard all day? Some lady stopped me when I was inside the bar and asked, «Are you all doing some kind of Citywide Cooking contest out there?» I’m pretty sure I read once a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single Unilocaler Chili Cook-​off, and Beth took that step, on a perfect Sunday afternoon. And did it quite nicely. A wonderful time by all.

I vowed to never go to suburban hell aka South Park Meadows on a weekend but I’m glad to have broken that promise today.
I grabbed a few chilies on my way in and then got chatting with new and old friends of Unilocal and got distracted. Thankfully Mrs DM was diligent and hunted and gathered me all the ones I had missed after the first pass.
That was some damn good chili by all the entrants, and I’m glad I didn’t enter mine. Haha
Spawn had some fun chasing the girls, wifie got to meet some people I speak about from Unilocal and we were still able to have family time on our weekend. Win x 3
Thanks to all who entered and pitched in on it.
My 2 pennies

Like a dummy, I ate a pretty decent lunch before I realized, «Duh, there’s a Unilocal event out south and you’re not completely zonked out from the night shift on the ambulance.» So I showered, put on a clean shirt, and navigated the I-​35 parking lot all the way to Southpark Meadows in North San Antonio. (Hey, if you Southies can call 183 South Dallas, I can call Southpark Meadows North San Antonio!)
Beth D. was an awesome hostess and everyone was friendly. Got to finally meet a couple of Unilocalers I’d been wanting to meet. Hi Derek M. and Ron U.
So, I hardly ate any chili and I didn’t vote, but I came anyways. Fun time anyways.

Thanks to Beth for setting this awesome event up! Even though I am pretty sure this was totally rigged (because I didn’t win), I still had a great time.
Each Chili that I tasted was quite good, but if I hadn’t entered I probably would have voted for either Chili that had Deer meat in it (Kudos to Ron and Lee!), they were awesome. There was also a Goat meat Chili and the winning Chili had Italian Sausage in it. I thought it was super cool that there was so much variety in the Chili. Well done everyone.
This Third Base location ended up being a pretty awesome place to throw this shindig. It’s pretty far South, but the outside patio is really spacious and pretty much perfect for an event such as this. We could definitely get another 10 – 15 tables out there and make this a much larger event (hint hint people!).
I hope we do something like this again in the future. I will take the time to hone my recipe and make sure I take down team Texitalino! GO MEATBEANS!!!

I came.
I saw.
I chilied.
And I had a blast finding which of my Unilocal friends were secret chili masters (and there are several).
Congrats to Beth D for organizing the best UYE I can ever remember. She did such a good job, it felt like a mini-​OYE! Also, thanks to Third Base for providing the terrific venue, power, and the awesome prizes for the contestants. It was a great way for some of their patrons to be introduced to Unilocal Austin, and a great opportunity for those of us who haven’t made it to Third Base yet (ahem!) to check it out.
There used to be this great festival in San Marcos known as Chilympiad, and it was held every September at the Hays County Civic Center. It no longer exists, but Unilocal Austin can start its own version. Let’s hope this is our First Annual Unilocal Chili Cook Off, with many more to come!

What a fun, well planned and well executed event! This was a gorgeous day to grab a beer and taste some of Unilocal’s and TB’s patrons finest chili recipes. I was impressed with the creativity, flavor and quality of the contestants’ chili. There was goat, deer, beef, Italian sausage, roasted peppers, beans, toppings, Frito’s, corn bread, cheddar bay biscuits, lots of toppings and of course beer. It was hard to chose just one team for the best chili but in the end at an event like this everyone wins!
Beth you did a great job at organizing the event. Hats off to all the wonderful contestants. And thanks to Third Base for having us!

Couldn’t have picked a better day to take over the Third Base patio. The weather was as beautiful as the hostess, Beth D. There were just enough contestants, families, beers, and carafes of mimosas.
I liked the Barney’s Wine entry, but I thought the tomato geleè on top of the Frito foam served on the cheddar cheese semifreddo was a bit much.
The chili from Peppery Pig was almost as good, and like half the price.
I wanted to try the Pranklin’s chili, but that line was just too long.
The entry from Team Buchiko seemed creative, but I found the brussel sprouts to be superfluous. It might be good paired with fried milk with ice cream for desert.
Beth D’s chili just had waaaay to much avacado.
Leave it to a bunch of Unilocalers to bring their A Game and give us all unique and amazing chilis to try. And if there is a «why you shouldn’t read my reviews» warning, the one I voted for didn’t clear the top 3. Oh, I mean, of course I voted for the winning team, Texitaliano. They made us an offer we couldn’t refuse!
Congrats to all. Thanks to Third Base for having us. As has already been said, there were no losers here. Well, except the Minnesota Vikings (Sorry, Chris B.). Beth D. rocks. Unilocal rules.

This is the placeholder (the rating is a given, it’s a given…) for November 3d’s Unilocal’s Chili Cook-​Off Event!
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Okay, I just want to tell you all how freaking amazing you are for participating in this event! I’m not gonna lie, I had some pre-​event party planning jitters thinking no one would show up. So, I was pleased and just blown away by the turnout.
Thank you SO much to all the teams who worked so hard on their chili, making it difficult for the judges to even make up their minds. And thank you to everyone who helped me set up beforehand. Victoria, thanks so much for helping me make the swag bags and even getting Unilocal to pitch in on prizes. And Stella, Kristin and Courtney — it meant a lot to me that you guys hung out on Saturday, made shirts and just were so supportive! This was just wonderful.
If everyone would please show Third Base South Park some love
, I (and they) would really appreciate it. Val, the manager, Brendan McDonald, the district manager, Brendan Puthoff, the owner, our servers and all the staff members who promoted this event to the patrons inside and even came out to sample and vote themselves really helped make this whole thing happen and just took great care of us in general!
I heart you all to the moon and this was so SO much fun to put together. I’m looking forward to the next big UYE — throw me your ideas, peeps cause I really love making it happen!