I got to check out the Kansas City stop of the Top Chef Tour last Friday.

Eli Kirshtein from Season 6 and Nikki Cascone from Season 4 came into KC and showed off their culinary chops and answered some questions in four sessions outside Cosentino’s Market. The first 15-20 minutes were spent making a quick Scimeca’s Sausage meatball with sauerkraut, aioli and topped with some gala apples.

By themselves, I like very few of the components in this dish. Sauerkraut? EW. Mustard? No thanks. But as a dish, it totally worked. The flavors worked together to create something really simple and tasty.

My favorite part of the event was the Q&A, though. As someone who’s been watching Top Chef since season one (and I’ve talked about it plenty), I was interested in hearing about the show and their experiences. One of the things that cracked me up was Eli and Nikki talking trash on some of the more well-known chefs of the world, particularly Bobby Flay (“Just throw it on the grill with some chipotle in adobo and some cilantro.”).

I was actually really surprised at how open and honest they were, pulling no punches about the contestants they competed with (Eli still hates Robin, it seems) and the challenges they competed in.

It was a really nice event and I have to say thanks to my friend Eric from The National, who got me the tickets. Eric is actually bringing back Eli and one of my personal favorites, Kevin “BEARDY” Gillespie for a special 6-course event (two by each Top Chef and 2 by Chef Barkley from The National) at their clubhouse in May. As amazing as the event sounds, the price tag might be a little out of my range.

For the rest of my pictures, check out my Flickr photoset.