The Fabulous Food Show

While sitting around in the kitchen last night, gorging on homemade ice cream "cake" (Oreo cookie crust, with vanilla ice cream, topped with homemade chocolate sauce and peanuts) for my brother's birthday, my dad mentioned this event in Cleveland this November called The Fabulous Food Show. This is the 6th year this show has taken place and it features food and wine tasting, cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs, an autograph pavilion, a marketplace, cookbook store, and more. This year's celebrity chefs are all from Food Network and they're all pretty awesome: Duff Goldman (Ace of Cakes, Sugar High), Bobby Flay (Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Iron Chef America, Next Food Network Star, etc.—he's had so many shows!), Michael Symon (Iron Chef America), Robert Irvine (Dinner: Impossible, Restaurant: Impossible), and Guy Fieri (Guy's Big Bite; Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives).

Well, we're definitely getting tickets for the whole weekend, but my dad told me today that he'd get me two VIP meet-and-greet tickets as a belated birthday present (yes, I am most definitely a daddy's girl, and yes, I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity). According to the website, this means "VIP seating available for select performances. Indulge yourself with seating in the front two rows, then enjoy a quaint meet and greet following the performance with your favorite chef! You will leave this experience with great memories, chef autograph, and a special goodie bag including your favorite chef's cook book!"—So basically, to a foodie and Food Network junkie like me, this is amazing! Now, I already know I want to meet Duff Goldman—yes, I know he's known as a pastry chef and not so much as a restaurant chef (though he did go to culinary school and studied far more than just baking and pastries), but I love Ace of Cakes and he seems like such a cool guy. I'm not so sure about which of the other chefs to meet though. I'm not a huge Bobby Flay fan, but he's a great chef, he's a pretty big deal, and I think it could be really cool to meet him. I think Michael Symon is really cool, and as a winner of The Next Iron Chef a few years ago, he's done very well on Iron Chef America. Robert Irvine is really intense, but I really enjoy his show, Restaurant: Impossible. Guy Fieri is arguably the most successful winner of The Next Food Network Chef, but I don't really follow his shows.

Right now, I'm leaning toward Bobby Flay or Michael Symon, but I'd love to get feedback from my readers, so, if you have an opinion about who I should see, please reply in the comment section for this post. I think I have a chance to at least see all of the chefs if I go for the whole weekend (which I plan to do), but the VIP package lets me do so much more! I'm so incredibly excited!

Update: Unfortunately, I didn't look at the schedule very closely when I posted this, because it appears that Bobby Flay and Duff Goldman will only be appearing on Friday, and I won't be able to get to the event until late that night because of my culinary class. So, now I'm thinking I'll see Michael Symon and Robert Irvine.