March Madness Food Fight: Elite 8
Taking inspiration from last year's Food Fight, we thought it would be fun to pit a roster of culinary superstars against each other in competition. We didn't seed them, but arranged them into four categories: TV food personalities, restaurateurs, chefs, and food writers.
The results of the first, second, and third rounds of The Daily Meal's second annual March Madness Food Fight have been tallied and the latest sets of battles are awaiting your vote.
In the first three rounds, the competitors were chosen based on their personalities, their stature in the food world, and, well, because it just seemed fun to put them up against each other for reasons beyond their culinary prowess. After putting the fate of these culinary challenges in the hands of the public, the results of the Sweet 16 matchups are quite interesting. Padma Lakshmi edged out Guy Fieri in the battle of who has the best catchphrase in food television; in the underdog upset of the century, David Chang emerged victorious over Thomas Keller in the fight for upscale fried chicken; and Anthony Bourdain beat Jeffrey Steingarten for the title of most acerbic food personality.
The Elite Eight pairings are detailed below, and now the power is in your hands to vote on which participants will advance through to the Final Four. Click on the bracket to get an enhanced visual of the battles at hand, and then cast your votes using this survey. Bear in mind that you'll be choosing the victors of each pairing based on the reasons outlined in the breakdown below.
Click here to cast your votes in the March Madness Food Fight
Check back here Thursday to see who advances to the Final Four.
Breakdown: Elite Eight
Padma Lakshmi v. Tom Colicchio: Which competitor is the real reason you watch Top Chef?
Danny Meyer v. Wolfgang Puck: Battle Burgers v. Pizza
David Chang v. Marcus Samuelsson: Battle New York City — Downtown v. Uptown
Anthony Bourdain v. Ed Behr: Who is the better food prose stylist?