What: The Food Experiments National Tour presented by Brooklyn Brewery
Where and When: Washington DC on May 15th; Philadelphia on June 5th; Boston on July 31st; Brooklyn in September
Why: For the past two years, friends and veteran cook-off gurus Theo Peck and Nick Suarez have hosted hundreds in dimly lit venues where amateur chef-testants experiment with basic ingredients hoping for epic results. Their sold out competitions have included individual items like cheese and chocolate and wide-ranging themes like Brunch, the Taco and Brooklyn Roots. Now, these outer-borough boys are experimenting with the experiment by taking it on a multi-city tour to find the best of the chefs culminating in a final All-Star Championship cook-off back in Brooklyn this fall. The upcoming cities and themes will be Brunch in New Orleans, Tacos in DC, Cheese in Philadelphia and Pie in Boston.
“We picked cities that love to eat and cities that have a food culture of their own,” said Nick Suarez. “Our goal is to promote the home chef in a nurturing competitive environment. . .to push their culinary boundaries while experimenting with food.”
In each locale, Peck and Suarez will have a visible presence in the local food community. The pair will be sampling domestic cuisine, meeting chefs for a local happy hour, conducting a Friday food crawl prior to experiment day as well as tasting and judging at each cook-off. Courtesy of their national sponsor, Brooklyn Brewery, their borough beer will be on tap for imbibing.
Given the results of their first tour stop in Austin—where Suarez saw some of the most passionate of chefs experimenting with pork—the culminating cook-off will feature previous AllStar chefs and tour stop winners surely making for a coveted foodie event. Prizes throughout the tour are provided by Le Creuset and Brooklyn Slate in addition to new partnerships formed with local communities for the duration of the tour.
No matter the city or the chef, the pair assures chef-testants “create the perfect bite. . .it always wins competitions.”
May the best bite win it all.
Cost: $20 in advance $25 day of (A portion of ticket sales will go to a charity. Check each event listing).
How to get there: Consult our Public Transportation Guides to Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.
Sarah Knapp is a Brooklyn based entrepreneur whose love for the outdoors and community building led her to the October 2013 creation of OutdoorFest. She has a BA in History, is a Wilderness First Responder and a NY state hiking, camp and boating guide. Her proudest achievement to date is reading the Aeneid in Latin. 
Allison was one of our first top writers and Chief Editor but is no longer working with offMetro. Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributed travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She never missed a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. 
Josh Laskin is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When he is not at work or on the road, you can find him in the mountains snowboarding, climbing, hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, and eating bagel bites.
Annie is a travel writer, environmentalist, and surfer based in Venice, CA. She heads up our West Coast team, keeps our grammatical errors in check, and makes sure our California writers always have a plan for their next adventure. Follow Annie’s travels @annelisemcb.
Carly Pifer is a freelance writer who has been known to follow whims inspired by romantic movie scenes or colorful street style shots to India, Japan, Tunisia and Argentina. After stints living in Seoul, Boston, Paris and Los Angeles, writing and searching for something intangible, she landed somewhat steadily in Brooklyn and has begun to find inspiration in her more immediate surroundings. 
Kate E. O’Hara is a New York based freelance writer and photographer who loves all things food—especially the people who make it and market it. Her writing aims to capture the essence of the food experience; the stories that go well beyond a plate of ingredients. In addition to her love of food, Kate is also known to have a hankering for red wine and craft beer. You can also find Kate on Instagram