It was an Empire State of event in Manhattan on Tuesday night to kickoff the NFL Draft week and help raise money for charity, as Pro Player Insiders and Chef Plum held their “Gridiron Chef Competition for Sandy Hook” fundraiser.
The event, hosted by NY Vintners, pitted Washington Redskins linebacker Rob Jackson and New York Giants safety Stevie Brown against one another in a celebrity cook-off challenge to raise money and awareness for the Sandy Hook Promise. Hosted by Chef Plum, of ABC’s the Taste, hosted the event while special guest judges Kim Nelson, from Daisy Cakes (ABC’s “Shark Tank”), Diane DiMeo (“Chopped”), and former 12-year NFL veteran Reggie Kelly offered insight, critique, and even some heckling from the official’s table.
“I’m expecting a whole lotta fun tonight”, Kelly, a former Cincinnati Bengal and Atlanta Falcon said. “I’m hoping these guys take the competitive juices from the gridiron into the kitchen but more so than anything this is a great cause, so without shadow of doubt I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to help out anyway I could.”
Kelly also provided some ingredients for the two Gridiron chefs to use in their dishes.
“[Kyvan] foods is basically a foodline that derived from my family. I took my daughter’s name, Kyla, and my son’s name, Kavan and combined them. My grandmother always told me when you cook make sure you do it with love so I wanted to give the world a piece of the love that the Kelly family has to offer.”
The event benefited The Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit corporation created from the aftermath of the tragedy that struck Newtown, Connecticut and the entire nation. A non-profit that looks to address the gun safety law discussions with “equal parts of Love, Compassion, and Common Sense”.
With guests from all walks of life in the audience many expressed the importance of attending such an event.
“I’m originally from Connecticut and I didn’t really get a chance to come and see the sights of Newtown,” Jackson said. “I was trying to find a way to do something and give back and have something I can put myself into and I thought this was a good opportunity.”
“With Sandy Hook, and the tragedy that just happened in Boston, I think this is just a perfect time to get out and have everyone be together and show unity in something that’s very important out there in the community,” said LaMar Campbell a former NFL players and Pro Player Insider.
“The best thing is that events like this bring like minded people (together). You meet a lot of good people, doing good things in the community. That’s my highlight of the night.”
With empty stomachs and full hearts, contestants were ready to cook, guests were ready to eat, and everyone was set to have a good time.
It was rumored a lot of trash talk had flown around heading into the event and with predictions coming, Stevie Brown looked like the smart money..
“I think I may go with Stevie,” said Campbell.
“I want Stevie to win,” said chef Ariel Fox. “Originally, he approached me to help him with competition, but we found out being a professional chef would maybe be an advantage so I decided to show my support instead.”
“I’m friends with Stevie so I’m here to support him and of course, Sandy Hook as well,” said Stephanie Abrams of the Weather Channel.
And what did Stevie say about all his predicted victory?
“I expect to win. Plain and simple.”
Each competitor was given 30 minutes to whip up a dish out of a mystery basket of ingredients. Going one at a time Rob Jackson, assisted by his sous chef India Jackson, lead off the night whipping up a dish that drew both cheers and jeers from the judges.
Next up was the man, whose name was flying around the building: Stevie Brown who was assisted by his fellow New York Giants teammate James Brewer.
And surely enough, with time to spare Brown and Brewer waited as the clock counted down. Fully sure of a victory and when everyone was brought together for final evaluation, it seemed justified. Brown won by a vote of 2-1.
“With the Giants (Brown) I’d have to say I was very surprised by their technique and I was not so surprised with the Redskins (Jackson),” said DiMeo with a lighthearted laugh. “I say that only because their dish had great intentions but the execution fell short.”
“It was good and I cleaned my plate both times but I liked how Team 1 (Jackson) included more of the startch and things that weren’t necessarily a part of their basket,” said Nelson. “There’s some positives and negatives for everybody but I enjoyed it, I’m a big eater so I’ll eat just about anything.”
The successful night had everyone shining their pearly whites as the night drew to a close. People laughed, talked, ate, and drank but no one forgot why they were all there: for the people of Newtown and to continue to bring awareness to the community and bring the community closer together.
“We want to make sure we don’t forget the lives that were lost that day,” said James Belden, co-founder of the Sandy Hook Promise. “We don’t want to be remembered as a place of grieving of victims as opposed to a place where change began. We want to help our community heal, we also want to address the issues of violence in our country and make sure we don’t have more victims like we did on December 14th.”
“This is a great event and the point is awareness, to remember what happened, to remember how to prevent it from happening in your community, and that’s the point we want to get across. We appreciate the support and all the talent here tonight. This is great.”
