Chef Kevin Erving Wins Taste of Vail With Fried Plantain Basket

The air inside the judging tent at the Taste of Vail was thick with the kind of silence that only exists when twelve people are trying to remember if they’re supposed to spit or swallow. It’s a specific, heavy quiet, broken only by the clink of ceramic against the table and the low hum of metabolic debate as folks wonder if they should have fasted for hours or if a late breakfast was a mistake. You can feel the tension in the way judges shift in their chairs, the way eyes dart to the next plate before the last one is fully cleared. This year’s aprés tasting and chef competition didn’t just ask chefs to cook; it asked them to surprise, to break the traditional mold of protein battles, and to deliver flavors that lingered long after the tent zipped shut.

What do a coffee entrepreneur, a sommelier, and four foodie journalists have in common? They were all seated at the judges’ table, tasked with evaluating a lineup that refused to be predictable. Gone were the years of chefs battling over who could make the best pork or beef. Instead, the menu stretched across the globe and the Rockies, featuring Colorado-raised lamb and pork alongside Japanese scallops and Mexican shrimp. It was a bold shift, and judging coordinators Lisa Briner and Carrie Larson ushered the panel into the tent with a strict protocol: twelve courses in roughly ninety minutes, broken into groups to prevent total sensory collapse.

The banter settled as the first plate arrived, and then the next. Food comas are an occupational hazard in this line of work, but the passion behind the dishes kept the palates sharp. And then, there was the silence that signals a winner. It’s not just quiet; it’s a collective holding of breath, a thickening of the air where everyone wants to say “wow” but holds back to preserve objectivity. That silence belonged to The Gambit. Executive Chef Kevin Erving’s platanos fritos rellenos — fried plantains shaped into a delicate basket filled with chili-braised short rib, lime crema, pineapple relish, salsa verde, and cilantro — brought home the win. It was a dynamic burst of Caribbean and Central American flavor that left the judges stunned, a dish that felt both rustic and meticulously engineered.

If Erving’s plate was the winner of flavor, another contender won the eyes. The Charter’s Executive Chef Matt Good presented a short rib and foie gras shumai, adorned with mango tobiko, micro cilantro, and a serrano ham demi glace. It was delicate, ornate, and undeniably delicious, earning the highest style points for its visual precision. You could see why it caught the eye, even if the plantain basket ultimately claimed the crown.

There was also an honorable mention that surprised the scoreboard, a dish that defied conventional expectations of tacos, pizza, and sandwiches, proving that creativity still thrives when you look closely at the plate. The event wasn’t just about who cooked the best; it was about how well the food communicated across cultures and ingredients. As the judges filed out, the tent emptied, leaving behind the scent of lime and fried plantain, a sensory echo of a competition where tradition met innovation, and where the only thing louder than the silence was the flavor.