The 3rd Annual Rincon Rotary District 5500′s decadent “Taste of Chocolate” was held this afternoon at the Doubletree Hotel (445 S. Alvernon Way). And Creative Catering won all 4 categories of tasting: Chocolate Artisan, Mousse Crossing, Cocoa Loco, and Hometown Hits, as decided by Celebrity Judges:

Alex Miranda, KGUN 9
Kayna Whitworth, KOLD 13
Anne Kellogg, Tucson Lifestyle magazine
“Chris P” and “Joe Joe”, 93.7 KRQ (the “good looking guys”)
Mrs. Grant, 94.9 MIXfm

All photos below courtesy of friend Andy Reilly (except for last two photos taken by Barry Cohen).

Creative Catering's winning Cocoa Loco entry (judge's choice)

I suspect it was also Creative Catering’s wide selection of three choices of fondue dips that was so impressive– using bananas, creams puffs, angel food cake, pretzels, marshmallows, & brownie bites. Yum. They won 3 of the 4 celebrity judge’s categories last year (all except for Mousse Crossing).

Creative Catering's fondue choices - Hometown Hits winner (judge's and people's choice)

In the People’s choices (voted on by the hundreds of attendees), the winners for the same categories were:

Chocolate Artisan: Melting Pot (choco strawberries)
Mousse Crossing: Eclectic Cafe (white chocolate flan)
Cocoa Loco: Zink’s Treats (hot pepper fudge)
Hometown Hits: Creative Catering (chocolate river)

Congratulations to all the winners, and to Chair Wendy Hobbs are another successful Taste of Chocolate.

Zink Treat's winning hot pepper fudge (Cocoa Loco category, People's Choice)

Creative Catering is located at 727 E. Holaway, phone 520-690-0146, email is info@tucsoncreativecatering.com, www.tucsoncreativecatering.com. Owners are Bill and M.J. Essenmacher.

Most of the taste options were chocolate cakes, brownies, truffles with a few unusual choices — a chocolate crepe (Planet of the Crepes) and a chicken slider sandwich with chocolate bbq sauce – pictured below (by Culinary Design Catering). And of course the Doubletree Hotel had their famous chocolate chip cookies on their tasting table.

Culinary Design's chicken slider entry (last year winner of Cocoa Loco category of People's Choice)

Numerous raffle prizes (gift certificates from restaurants and other businesses in town) were given out, and a silent auction of beautiful jewelry and other gifts (including an exquisite Mata Ortiz pot) was also held.

Read my previous blog about this event (click here), and mark your calendar for next year’s event scheduled for April 15, 2012.

Here’s a photo taken by Barry Cohen of the winning chocolate flan entry by Eclectic Cafe:

Eclectic Cafe's winning flan entry (Mousse Crossing, people's choice)

And last but not least, a photo of the winning team at Creative Catering receiving their People’s Choice award (Hometown Hits):

Creative Catering team, overall winners

“Oh my gosh” was my response entering the Rincon Rotary’s 2nd annual “Taste of Chocolate” event today at the Doubletree Hotel, 455 N. Alvernon. Beautifully decorated tables serving chocolate samples of all kinds were awaiting the entrants, probably 500-600 people in total over a two hour period. Tickets cost $10/adult, children under 12 were free with paid adult. There were lots of children present happily enjoying the chocolate samples.

Each entrant was asked to choose the best of four categories: Chocolate Artisan, Mousse Crossing, Cocoa Loco, and Hometown Hits. I tried to sample all the different chocolate cookies, fudges, truffles, candies, tiramisu, dipped strawberries, etc.and it was lots of fun judging so many delicious wonders and delicacies. There was even a chocolate mole taco and a chocolate based mixed fruit compote.

chocolate truffles

I’ll let you know toward the end of this article who won in these categories (based on celebrity judges’ decisions), but here’s a list of the restaurant/catering participants:

Chocolate Artisan: Anne Gartner, Bergie Harzheim, Creative Catering, Gentle Ben’s, Pastiche, Pizzeria Vivace, Sunflower

Mousse Crossing: Creative Catering, Doubletree Hotel, Eclectic Cafe, Hacienda del Lago, Pastiche, Melting Pot, Tucson Country Club

Cocoa Loco: Cafe 54, Creative Catering, Culinary Design, Luna Bella, Pastiche, Sweet Rustler Treats

Hometown Hits: Creative Catering, Doubletree Hotel, El Parador, Lutz Swiss Bakery, Mini’s, Quail Canyon Golf, Rocco’s Little Chicago, Sweet Rustler’s Treats, Zink’s Treats

This event featured raffle prizes including chocolate cakes, gifts certificates to restaurants, caterers, florists. A silent auction was also held.

Celebrity judges were Jenny Anchondo, anchor of KOLD TV Channel 13, District 4 Supervisor Ray Carroll, Judy Rich, COO of Tucson Medical Center, Jerry Simmons of Simmons Automotive. Based on their judging in the first hour, the winners of each category were:

Chocolate Artisan: Creative Catering
Mousse Crossing: Eclectic Cafe
Cocoa Loco: Creative Catering
Hometown Hits: Creative Catering
(wow, 3 out of 4 for Creative Catering! Check them out here.)

And the People’s Choices for each category were: Chocolate Artisan: Pizzeria Vivace (tiramisu), Mousse Crossing: Melting Pot (chocolate fondue), Cocoa Loco: Culinary Design Catering (chicken Mole), and Hometown Hits: Lutz Swiss Bakery (chocolate macaroons). Congratulations to all the winners.

The proceeds from this Taste of Chocolate benefit the Rincon District 5500 Rotary‘s scholarship program and Polio Plus (their goal is to eradicate polio in the world). For more info contact: WBTUS@aol.com or click on their website link.

If you missed this decadent event today, be sure to watch for the 3rd annual Taste of Chocolate next Spring. I had never seen so much delicious chocolate in one room before.