Let the battle begin: 17th annual Iron Chef Tucson is Saturday

Every summer on the eve of the annual Iron Chef Tucson competition, foodies make friendly wagers about the “secret ingredient.”

Will it be sweet like the mango that popped up in 2011 when Ryan Clark (Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, formerly of Lodge on the Desert and Casino del Sol) won the first of his record three consecutive Iron Chef Tucson titles; or the chocolate Danny Perez (University of Arizona Bear Down Kitchen) drew in 2016 when he was chasing his second title?

Exotic (bison in 2009, New Zealand lamb in 2013) could be fun, or maybe truly weird and niche like the white asparagus retired farm-to-table guru Albert Hall (Acacia Real Food & Cocktails) parlayed into his second Iron Chef Tucson win in 2009, or the octopus that led to the 2019 win for Wendy Gauthier (Chef Chic).

Sixteen competitions since the 2007 inaugural Iron Chef Tucson competition — the events in 2020 and 2021 were called off courtesy of the pandemic — has brought us everything from peaches and pork belly to peanut butter and pickles, last year’s secret ingredient.

What will it be for this year’s competition on Saturday, July 26?

That’s up to Dee Anne Thomas and Priscilla Ramirez, sales director and business manager respectively for Lotus Communications (MIXfm, KFMA, KLPX and ESPN Tucson), which has organized the event since 2019. When it was owned by Scripps, MIXfm launched Iron Chef Tucson in 2007 as a way to shine a light on local restaurants during their slowest time of year. When Lotus bought the station six years ago, it continued the event.

Thomas and Ramirez handle the chef side of the competition while Lotus Marketing Director Summer Johnston does the promotions.

Johnston said she has no idea what Thomas and Ramirez are cooking up for the 2025 competition between reigning Iron Chef Anthony Dromgoole (Obon) and McKenzie O’Leary (Tanque Verde Ranch); no one will know until an hour before the cooking begins at 5 p.m. at Desert Diamond Casino, 1100 W. Pima Mine Road.

But Thomas said the chefs will get a hint the day before when her team sends them an email with three possible ingredients that have been whittled down from 15 to 20 recommendations from colleagues and others.

“We try to provide a variety. We might include maybe a protein. One might be a fruit, one might be a vegetable, or it could be a spice or a nut,” she explained.

They also look for items not stocked in the chefs’ pantries, which include a variety of proteins, starches, fruits, vegetables and spices, and avoid any ingredient that’s in the wheelhouse of either contestant, such as tuna in the case of Dromgoole, executive sushi chef for Obon Sushi Bar Ramen.

Johnston said giving chefs a 24-hour hint “enables them to plan, prep, think a little bit around these three ingredients.”

“And then when the competition starts, we announce what the secret ingredient is and they have an hour to plan, on stage, with their team,” she said.

Chefs must incorporate the ingredient in each of their four dishes and one dish must feature Blue Moon beer. Thomas said those dishes can be anything, from a four-course meal with appetizer, entree, salad and dessert or some variation that could include focusing on four dishes from two categories (two entrees and two appetizers, for example).

The chefs will cook in the “kitchen stadium” at Desert Diamond Casino, which was upgraded with new appliances and a more user-friendly design two years ago. Thomas said one of the upgrades was to provide separate refrigerators and pantries for each chef.

Chefs will be given a sneak peak at the pantry — looking, not touching, much like they allow on A+E’s long-running reality show “Storage Wars” — and can request additional items; last year, the chefs asked for tortillas and Dromgoole requested rice flour.

The chefs also can bring two small appliances, such as the pressure cooker that was a big help for Gauthier to tackle octopus in 2019 or a smoker gun that Kenneth Foy (Dante’s Fire) used for his two back-to-back wins in 2022 and 2023.

O’Leary is only the second female chef to make it to the competition, although a number of women have participated in the Meet the Chef preliminaries held each spring.

Dromgoole unseated Foy at last year’s event with pickles as the secret ingredient.

Iron Chef Tucson kicks off from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at Desert Diamond Casino, 1100 W. Pima Mine Road, with the popular Culinary Experience featuring cooking demonstrations; wine and beer classes; beer and food samples from Iron Chef sponsor Blue Moon, Peroni, RayRay’s Sonoran Tea, Le Buzz, Savaya Coffee, Jeremiah’s Italian Ice and Dirty T Tamarindo; and featured demonstrations by vendors including Whiskey Del Bac and Tucson Foodie.

The competition begins at 5 p.m. Tickets are $60-$85 through ironcheftucson.com and include access to both events as well as the drink and food samples.

Looking to repeat

Obon Executive Sushi Chef Anthony Dromgoole got his first cooking job at 17 with the Italian food chain Olive Garden.

He lasted three months before taking a job as the rib cook at Texas Roadhouse on Tucson’s south side.

Since then the now 31-year-old, who spent a year studying cooking in the Pima Community College culinary program, has worked at several Tucson restaurants including Hotel Congress and the now closed Ermanos Bar and Maynards Kitchen and Bottle Shop.

He arrived at Obon nearly 10 years ago after offering to stage with the former sushi chef.

On that first day in 2016, Dromgoole said the chef gave him a piece of yellow tail to break down.

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“I just looked at him, and I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve never seen this before. I don’t know what it is’,” he recalled. “And I completely butchered it.”

He fully expected to be laughed out of the East Congress Street restaurant. Instead, the chef showed him the proper way to break down fish and gave him another shot. When he finished, the chef offered him a job starting the next day.

Dromgoole, who has worked with the restaurant on-and-off a total of seven years, is the corporate sushi chef for Obon’s three locations — 350 E. Congress downtown and two Scottsdale locations. A downtown Phoenix location at 2 E. Jefferson St. is in the works.

The pre-game plan that’s not really a plan: “I’m gonna go into it just like I did last year. I still feel like an underdog. You know, keep a humble head. ... I don’t know if I’m winning this year or not, but we’re going to go out there and try and do what we did last year. There’s a little bit less nerves going into this one just because I know exactly what the stage looks like. I know the equipment we’re using. I know the flow of things. I’m just going to try and keep track of time again this year. Not that it slipped away from me last year, but an hour does go by pretty quick for four dishes; and just to have fun again, like last year. It was a blast.”

Getting outside the wheelhouse: “I’m definitely going to try and stray away from the Asian influence just to show people that I was a regular line cook, (who studied) French technique before I was taught any Japanese cuisine. I’m gonna try and play around with the little barbecue this year. I was planning on bringing a small smoking gun or something. We’re definitely going to try and bring a smoke element this year, for sure.”

In last year’s pickle battle with Foy, Dromgoole brought his Japanese influences to a menu that included pickle-brined prawn lettuce wrap with pickled jalapeños; a pickled summer salad with cantaloupe and red onions that incorporated pickle-flavored cotton candy in the vinaigrette; a mushroom udon dish topped with pickle-brined pork shoulder steaks and pickled golden and purple beats; and mochi balls with pickled strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. This year, he’s toying with the idea of delving into his love of barbecue that goes back to middle school when his family got cable and he started watching “BBQ Pitmasters” on TLC.

In a perfect world, the secret ingredient would be ... : “Protein or uni” aka sea urchin. “They could throw foie gras at us; that one would be a fun one. I would hope for an expensive protein. They’ve been doing, like, chocolate and, you know, a little bit on the — I don’t want to say cheap ingredients, but. I think an exotic ingredient would be really cool, or something a little bit more high end because high-end ingredients are good.”

This ingredient would be a nightmare: “There’s not very much stuff that I don’t like, except for yellow mustard. Like, bright yellow mustard. I don’t like it whatsoever so that would definitely be a nightmare. But I do cook with it all the time. I just don’t like it as a condiment. ... But that would definitely be a hiccup, for sure.”

Becoming a two-time Iron Chef would be ... : “A second dream come true. The first was winning last year. As a young cook, up and coming, I just remember hearing Ryan Clark’s name as Iron Chef Tucson in culinary school and being like, ‘I want to be like that guy. I want to do that.’ And it’s still the same to this day. I want to be a three-peat champion just like Ryan Clark.”

Adding some color to the competition

In a sea of black coats, you could spot McKenzie O’Leary from a mile away.

She was standing in a line along with the male competitors, smiling ear to ear in her signature hot pink chef’s coat when she was announced as the winner of this year’s Meet the Chefs competition.

As the second women to reach the Iron Chef Tucson final, O’Leary is ready to show the world, especially her daughters, that with heart, you can accomplish anything.

O’Leary moved to Tucson in 2007 and enrolled in Pima Community College’s interior design program.

“My lighting plan was not on point,” she joked.

Knowing she wanted to do something creative, she decided to try her hand at the culinary program.

It was instant love.

She worked at Creative Catering for years before leaving the field to help care for her friend diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“After she passed, I wanted to do something meaningful,” O’Leary said. “There was a kitchen position open at Pantano Christian Church here in town, and that’s actually where her service was as well, so I took on the role there.”

O’Leary went on to work in the kitchens at the Forty Niner Country Club, Miraval Resort and Spa and Gap Ministries, where she and former Iron Chef winner John Hohn helped mentor children in the kitchen. She said it allowed her to get her soul back after years of hard work.

For the past three years, O’Leary has been the executive chef at Tanque Verde Ranch, cooking up delicious meals in her pink chef’s coat. Yes, that includes making her signature dish: French toast.

“It’s my favorite thing to make,” she said. “I put it on all of our buffets for Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, all that stuff. Now I’m having it on our Sunday brunch menu.”

Seeing blue and pink in the pre-game: “I’m messing around with Blue Moon. I’m working on some batters, some braising and just playing around with it. Hopefully, when I get there and I get all the information, I can make magic happen. I’ll also definitely incorporate some pink. That’s my favorite color, from my pink Jeeps and my pink chef coat to my pink office, everything is pink. So I definitely plan on bringing some pink and then really just having fun.”

French toast could make an appearance: “I don’t know what I’m going to be doing yet. I know it was pickle last year so pickle French toast could be weird, but I could try it. My favorite thing to make has always been French toast. I’ve always loved it. When I was at Pantano Christian Church at the beginning of my career, the flat top space didn’t allow for it so I was like, no, we have to figure this out. I created a signature baked French toast and that’s been something I brought into every kitchen I’ve been in since.”

In a perfect world, the secret ingredient would be…: “Mayonnaise! I love mayonnaise so much. I could make mayonnaise, I could play with mayonnaise and I could season mayonnaise.”

This ingredient would be a nightmare: “I love the color, but I hate the flavor of beets. The magenta gets me, of course, but the actual earthiness and the flavor and all the different ways that you have to really cook them and all that stuff, that would be kind of a pain, but we’ll just see.”

Winning Iron Chef Tucson would ... : “Definitely (show) my daughter we can do anything we put our minds to. I have an 18-year-old, and I have a 4-year-old, and the 18-year-old is headed off to the University of Portland in a month. I was able to get her to come to the competition because I was concerned since it’s a casino but Dee Anne from Lotus Communications made it happen. That just made us all so happy. So, it’ll really mean a lot to show my daughters that you can do anything you put your mind to.”