And then there were 2!

After 6 weeks of competition and we are down to the final 2 teams of bartenders and will compete one more time for the coveted title of Iron Bartender of Minneapolis.  How did it shake down?  Read on my friends.................

In the first heat on Sunday night (April 19) put all the teams from the loser's bracket against each other.  Richie from Eli's was up against Robbie (a late fill in for Jake) from Seven Sushi; and Wayno from Santorini was against Dan Nelson from Maverick's Wood Grill.  The timer was set for 15 minutes and the secret ingredient was ready to be unveiled in the first heat of the semi-finals of the loser's bracket.  And the ingredient is...........Fennel.  Fennel is a bulb-like stemmed herb that is considered a vegetable.  It's highly aromatic and flavorful, and is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe.  If you've never had absinthe, it's an anise flavor (black licorice).  All 4 bartenders if not having worked with fennel knew what and how to use fennel with to make cocktails taste delicious.  At the end of the 15 minute showdown to see who stays and who goes home Eli's and Santorini stood victorious, defeating Seven Sushi and Maverick's Wood Grill respectfully.  This put Eli's and Santorini head-to-head to see who would take on the loser of Town Talk Diner and Hell's Kitchen from the winners bracket.

So with 5 minutes to get ready to go at it again, Eli's and Santorini's was eagerly anticipating the next secret ingredient.  I had something in store for the remaining ingredients that night, I chose ingredients that I knew no one had worked with before, or at least I thought no one had worked with behind a bar that is.  So for the second secret ingredient I unveiled Mangosteen.  A mangosteen is the fruit from an Indonesian tropical evergreen tree.  The fruit is a brownish color, and larger than a golf ball but smaller than a baseball and has a hard outer shell and a soft white, sweet fruity inside.  To get this open to work with the fruit, one must bash open the hard shell with a mallet.  Once broken open the white insides are supple and very sweet -- an extremely tasty fruit.  Both Eli's and Santorini's cocktails were very tasty and very well done, in the end however...Eli's prevailed over Santorini and would be taking on the loser between Town Talk and Hell's Kitchen.

At this time I need to thank Santorini and ALL their supporters!  You guys really brought the energy this competition is all about from a fans perspective.  All the competitors and staff owe you a big THANK YOU for supporting Wayno and being a good sport to all other competitors during the competition.

So half the stage was set, Eli's awaited to see who they would take on to try to advance to the Championship next week.  This next battle was the most interesting and anticipated of the night.  Both these teams, as well as Eli's, have really stood out the whole competition and were labeled as the teams to beat and we were going to lose one of these talented teams by nights end.  Alright, the talented duo from Town Talk Diner, Nick Kosevich and Patrick Denny were squared off against Chris Greenfield and Dave Collins from Hell's Kitchen.  This competition was about to get real interesting in the span of 15 minutes.  Timer set, ingredient is........Chirimoya!  "A what?"  If you've never seen one of these you must check it out.  When I first saw it I called it the "alligator fruit".  It looks like alligator skin wrapped around a softball.  Chirimoya is an Ecuadorian tropical fruit from a tropical evergreen tree.  The texture is smooth and the taste is deliciously sweet (like a cross between a banana and an apple flavor).  During the 15 minutes I asked each team if they've ever worked with or seen this fruit and each team said "are you kidding me? I've never even heard of this fruit."  So each team was on level playing ground.  After the exciting 15 minutes one team would move on to next weeks championship and one team would have to gear up again and take on Eli's.  Hell's Kitchen put up a valiant effort, but in the end the talented duo from Town Talk Diner took the victory moving on the next week's championship.

One half of the puzzle was set, Town Talk Diner now awaited who they would take on; would it be a rematch from the semi finals in Hell's Kitchen, or would it be a second round rematch against Eli's?  Another 15 minutes would decide it.  Hell's Kitchen vs. Eli's, loser goes home, winner moves one step closer to becoming Minneapolis' first ever Iron Bartender and winning a V.I.P trip to Vegas!  In the words of Marvin Gaye and boxing referee Mills Lane..."Let's get it on!"

Hell's Kitchen vs. Eli's another 15 minute timer was set and another secret ingredient was ready for unveiling.  What could it be now?  Teams were wondering; the secret ingredient is........Kiwano!  Native to Africa, this horned melon, or jelly fruit, is a relative of the cucumber and is orange and has several spikes extruding from the outside.  The inside?....is gross.  It's green pockets of gelatinous goo with hundreds of seeds.  Obviously a strainer is in order for this battle.  As part of the "clean up" crew, picking this fruit was a mistake!  WOW what a disaster this fruit created for me and the rest of the crew at the end of the night.  In this final battle of the evening one team's quest to become Iron Bartender of Minneapolis would end, the others would continue for yet another week with only Town Talk Diner standing in the way.

And the winner is.....................Eli's!!  Hell's Kitchen was out done by the slimmest of margins and their quest to become Iron Bartender was over.  Eli's quest still alive and now must battle Town Talk Diner in next Sunday's (April 26th) Iron Bartender of Minneapolis Championship!!  Congrats go out to all teams who competed and Town Talk Diner and Eli's for outlasting their competition!  We'll see you all next week for the grand conclusion and triumphant celebration in the crowning of Minneapolis' first Iron Bartender.