Saturday, January 29, 2011

Foodies chow down at 2011 Munchie Bowl




buy this photo CASEY RIFFE/Gazette Staff Pat Zurbuchen of Famous Dave's serves up nachos at Munchie Bowl II at Bearthooth Harley-Davidson/Buell on Saturday.
  • Pat Zurbuchen of Famous Daves serves up nachos
  • A cowboy pulled pork slider
At a contest for Super Bowl snacks, how can you go wrong with an entry titled Hamburger Cheese Dip Bomb?

The creamy concoction of hamburger and three kinds of cheese, veggies and peppers won first place at Munchie Bowl II held Saturday at Beartooth Harley-Davidson/Buell in Billings.

More than 200 people sampled the offerings at 15 booths inside the West End motorcycle outlet. Local eateries, sports groups, businesses and organizations competed at the second annual snack-food fest.

For $2, playoff-food connoisseurs could sample a variety of freshly made items, ranging from dips and meatballs to taquitos, buffalo wings and pulled-pork sliders. When the foodies finished eating, they voted for their favorite munchie and their favorite booth.
The people's choice awards for booth and munchie both went to the Billings Roller Derby Dames, who sold both meatballs and kisses.

"We're here to win," said Vanessa Browning, one of the co-directors of the roller-derby league. "We have the best meatballs in the world."

Toward the end of the four-hour event, four guest judges tasted all of the entries and voted on their top three favorites. Second runner-up was The Planet 106.7, which offered what it called Something Awesome!, a combination of cream cheese, fresh oranges and corn chips.


First runner-up was the Big Horn Resort, which served pulled-pork sliders, complete with a slice of the restaurant's own pickles on small rolls. And the winner was the Outdoor Wildcats' Hamburger Cheese Dip Bomb.

Kinnard Kunnemann, vice chairman of a group called Families for Outdoor Recreation, spent more than four hours Friday night and Saturday preparing the dip that he said would be a swell addition to any Super Bowl party.

"I just think all the ingredients combined makes it work," he said, after he won the award.

Kunnemann, who took second place last year, said he was surprised that he won on Saturday.

"It's awesome," he said.

Ginny Hart, general manager at Big Horn Resort in Billings, said her booth's cowboy pulled-pork sliders drew favorable comments from people who stopped to sample.
"It's just hard to beat a barbeque sandwich," she said.

Big Horn Resort won a chili contest that Beartooth put on in the fall. Hart decided to come back to see if she could make it two wins in a row.

"It's just kind of fun to get out and be seen and take part in a little friendly competition," she said.

Bud Bender, an avid Harley rider, stopped by the contest to try the offerings. After stopping by about half the booths, he said his favorite was the pulled pork.
"I like the flavor of it, with the spicy pickle on it," he said.

Dale and Coralee St. Germaine, both motorcycle fans, decided to stop by the Harley store for a bite to eat.

"We will take a couple of these ideas home with us," said Dale, who was chowing down on Not'cho Ordinary Nachos from Famous Dave's BBQ.

Rob Brun, marketing and IT manager for Beartooth Harley-Davidson/Buell said the business sponsors a chili cook-off every fall and decided to add a winter food contest.
"We thought the week before the Super Bowl we'd have the Munchie Bowl," he said.
This time of year, Brun said, it's hard to get out and ride motorcycles.

"Since we can't ride right now, we said let's all get together and hang out," he said. "It's kind of that biker mentality."