The Daily Meal's Chef Madness Challenge: The Winners!

And then there were four. 

 

It seems like ages ago, but it was only last week when we launched The Daily Meal Chef Madness Challenge. We pitted eight chefs, eight gametime-friendly dishes, eight cocktails, and eight beers against each other, and over the course of three voting rounds, the playing field was narrowed. Two options from each category made it to the final round, and thousands of votes later, we have our champions!

 

We'll start with the beer. Out of the two beers that made it to the finals, Guinness and Miller High Life, one received nearly three times as many votes as the other: it's Guinness! Just goes to show that even after over-imbibing on St. Paddy's Day, every day is still a lovely day for a Guinness. 

 

Next, the cocktails. Margaritas were pitted against White Russians, and this one was another clean sweep: Margaritas overcame the creamy cocktail by a margin of five to one! With the weather slowly warming, it looks like we're already looking ahead to Cinco de Mayo. 

 

The next matchup, of NCAA-watching party-friendly dishes, was one of the tightest votes we've seen yet. Buffalo wings went head to head against sliders, and while it was neck and neck for a while, at the end of the day sliders emerged victorious, by a margin of only 2 percent! At the end of the day, burgers rule. 

 

Finally, we announce our chef champion. Iron Chef Michael Symon went head to head with Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian in the finals, and at the end of the day the matchup proved to be a clean sweep. Chef Symon beat out Zakarian with a whopping 94 percent of the vote! Now that's a decisive victory if we ever saw one. 

 

But the Chef Challenge doesn't end here. We've got a few things up our sleeve that make the most out of these winners, and they're a whole lot of fun. Stay tuned for what we've got in store for the day the Championship Game is played...