Last Thursday night, a sold-out crowd gathered at the Ronald Reagan Building to support DC Central Kitchen and watch an epic “Iron Chef” style throw down between top DC chefs Todd Gray (Equinox/Watershed), Haider Karoum (Proof/Estadio), Jeff Black (Pearl Dive Oyster Palace) and Brian McBride (Blue Duck Tavern).

Hosts Jose Andrés and Anthony Bourdain had the crowd reeling from their banter that including everything from GOP Presidential nominee Rick Perry to Kardashian boob jokes.  Judges Ted Allen of Chopped, local cookbook author Joan Nathan, and Ming Tsai of Simply Ming had the task of choosing the winner of each of the three ten-minute battles featuring secret ingredients such as butternut squash, Chesapeake ray and lamb.  Ultimately, Chef Haider was named the final victor of the evening with his lamb, chickpea, and coconut milk curry concoction.

Attendees witnessed a surprise battle between Top Chef All-Star contenders Carla Hall of Alchemy by Carla Hall, Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff Eatery and We the Pizza, Mike Isabella of Graffiato, and Jennifer Carrol of 10 Arts by Eric Ripert.

Guests also sampled signature small plates from over 60 local restaurants.

The evening raised over $500,000 for DC Central Kitchen which provides meals to thousands of at-risk individuals and culinary training to unemployed, previously incarcerated, or homeless adults.  For No Reservations fans, this program was highlighted in a previous season’s episode about Washington, D.C.

A few DCSocialite observations:

• Top Chef Carla Hall should have a second career as an auctioneer. Her fast talking style convinced the crowd to bid thousands of dollars on items such as a trip to the Aspen Food & Wine classic where Jose Andrés promised to hand feed caviar to the top bidder.
• Chef Haider’s last lamb dish was THOROUGHLY enjoyed by the judges and hosts.  Judge Ming Tsai was practically licking his empty plate and Anthony Bourdain spent his hosting down time cutting straight into the lamb leftovers and making “O” faces into the audience.
• Pork seemed to be the favorite ingredient of the other 60 restaurants that were presenting seasonal small plates throughout the night.  Highlights include Masa 14‘s pork belly bun with an Asian slaw and the beautifully presented shredded pork salad from Cuba de Libre.