Foy beats Sanner to become a back-to-back Tucson Iron Chef

Dante’s Fire chef-owner Kenneth Foy became only the third Tucson chef to win back-to-back Iron Chef Tucson titles when he defeated Zio Peppe chef-owner Devon Sanner in the 15th annual competition at Casino del Sol on Saturday, July 22.

“We’re really proud of what we did and where we’re at,” Foy said days after he beat first-time competitor Sanner. “We were really worried about the caliber of the competition we had. We gave us a 50-50 chance.”

“It was a great challenge,” Sanner said days after the event, presented by Casino del Sol and coordinated by Arizona Lotus Corp. “I’m proud of my team. Obviously, I wish the results had been different.”

Before a sold-out crowd of 700 in Casino del Sol’s Kitchen Stadium, the chefs had one hour to create four dishes that incorporated a last-minute secret ingredient. They also had to use Blue Moon beer in one dish.

Foy said he was hoping the secret ingredient would be short ribs, which was on the list alongside celery, eggs and peanut butter. He and Sanner received the list the day before the competition.

But when he saw that pork loin had been added at the last minute to the pantry, Foy said he kinda figured his plans for short ribs were moot.

“As soon as we saw that, we knew we were in a peanut butter fight,” he said.

Sanner also was not expecting peanut butter. He and his team did a couple trial runs the day before and flirted with a peanut butter mole before turning to more Asian influences, including his opening dish, Ugandan peanut soup with ginger and pineapple. The soup, called The Game Changer, had been a hit on the menu of Janos Wilder’s Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, where Sanner worked for 15 years.

“It was a favorite of mine and it was a crowd favorite. I know that’s a dish that works,” he said. “It’s peanut butter forward so people can appreciate the hidden ingredient, but it has other things going on like chiles and pineapple. That seemed like a great opening shot.”

Foy’s opening dish was his PB&J intermezzo, made with blueberry, peanut butter and semi fredo. He followed it with pan-seared pork loin served with a sweet potato poblano hash and a peanut butter molasses demi-glace, and a peanut butter ale risotto, incorporating the Blue Moon. The risotto included quick tempura shrimp, asparagus and a lobster peanut vinaigrette.

Sanner incorporated Chinkiang black rice vinegar and peanut butter to create a spicy chile and peanut butter dipping sauce for his handcrafted pork gyoza. Peanut butter also was central to his Massaman curry served with sous vide shrimp and coconut rice.

The curry, which is influenced by Asian and Muslim cultures, was infused with Blue Moon beer to add some citrus notes and maltiness, he said.

“The irony of using beer in a Muslim-influenced dish was sort of fun,” he said.

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With every dish he plated, Foy said he had no clue how the competition was going.

“We sensed that it was neck and neck and we barely eeked by,” he said. “If I was a betting man, I would say we won by the dessert.”

While Sanner played off the classic PB&J sandwich with his PB&J layer cake — a vanilla sponge cake dressed with a peanut butter mousse and a chocolate mousse then topped with a strawberry compote — Foy reached back 11 years to the early days of Dante’s Fire and crafted a peanut butter mousse with chantilly cream, Bacanora brulee’d pineapple, hard caramel sauce and crushed macadamia nuts and peanuts.

“Luckily, one of the guys had worked at Dante’s quite a while back and when we opened, we had a peanut butter mousse on our menu,” he said.

Sanner said he also had a misstep in his dessert. Someone inadvertently incorporated the gyoza chile peanut butter dipping sauce into the dessert mousse.

“With all the practice runs, we felt pretty confident timewise,” he said, until that final minute when he looked around for the dipping sauce.

“It added an interesting spicy character,” he said with a chuckle. “We wouldn’t have planned it that way, but it worked. ... You cowboy up, adapt and overcome.”

Foy said he is already thinking ahead to 2024 and the chance to become a three-time winner alongside Casino del Sol chef Ryan Clark.

Sanner said he is looking for a rematch with Foy next year.

“I would love a shot at a rematch,” he said. “I think we did a really good job and just came up short.”

Foy and Sanner are planning to celebrate their Iron Chef Tucson experiences in their restaurants with dinners replicating their competition menus.