‘Food Wars’ on Travel Channel to Feature Lockhart on March 23rd

There’s a new show on the Travel Channel called Food Wars. It airs Tuesdays on Cable Ch. 33 at 9pm.

The premise is to take two restaurants from the same city which feature their own versions of a particular cuisine. I was involved in the filming at Lockhart last month that pitted Smitty’s against Kreuz Market in an old-fashioned BBQ shoot out.

The show, which was shot at an unknown location in downtown Lockhart, recruited five judges. Two of the judges were huge fans of each restaurant, then there was the local food critic (Rob Balon), a media celebrity (Bob Cole) and a guy who was a rodeo star (Chad Eubank). We were all introduced to a raucous crowd and then blind folded for enough time to almost make my claustrophobia kick in. We were given two plates, each with brisket and sausage and asked to chomp away.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, we were asked to submit our vote for which plate we liked better. Several of us were a bit confused as is seemed that we would be asked to rate the brisket and sausage separately. But that turned out not to be the case.

The ballots were handed in, and with great drama, the winner was announced. The crowd went completely nuts (I think they had been drinking quite a bit of beer prior to the judging).

I watched one of the first Food Wars last week. The show was filmed in Buffalo and the challenge was, of course, wings. It was fun and had a lot of energy. I suspect the Lockhart version will be more of the same. So check it out. Again, air time is 9pm Central on Time Warner Cable Ch. 33.