Alex Pope of Local Pig topped the event, closely followed by Howard Hanna of The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange and Michael Smith of Michael Smith and Extra Virgin in what co-chair Dolly Wood called the tightest point-spread in the event’s four-year history.

Food Fight 4 chefs with their sous chefs: Tony Glamcevski & Howard Hanna, Jerry Fisher & Alex Pope and Michael Smith & Ryan Sciara

This year’s twist? Help from a trio of untrained sous chefs. Jerry Fisher, a self-described food enthusiast who’s never worked in a professional kitchen, backed up Pope. Hanna’s second was Tony Glamcevski, an industry pro who’s worked at Le Fou Frog and Green Dirt Farm and is now front-of-house at The Rieger. And Ryan Sciara of Cellar Rat Wine Merchants served as Smith’s sous.

If it added tension to the evening, you couldn’t tell. Each duo focused on the job at hand, chopping, frying and roasting as efficiently as possible in their make-shift kitchens. Their task: to prepare three courses in one hour, using ingredients from a grocery bag that included cod, flank steak, black walnuts, piquillo peppers and the like.

They could plan everything in advance but for one factor: a secret ingredient announced by honorary chef and chairman David Crum at the outset of the evening. His pick? Sweet potatoes grown by Thane Palmberg.

“It’s the only thing grown locally that’s available this time of year,” said Crum, general manager of Arrowhead Specialty Meats and Food Fight veteran (he served as sous chef to the late John McClure of Starker’s in 2011 and for Patrick Ryan of Port Fonda in 2012). “They’ve been cellared since last fall, and they’re so tasty.”

They certainly were. A volunteer circled the room with a basket of fresh sweet potato chips that were so crisp and sweet that I was tempted to follow him until the basket was empty. Not that there weren’t plenty of other options.

Kansas City’s restaurants support this event with abundant generosity and tables full of tasting portions. Sponsors included Aces Cake Shop, The American Restaurant, BabyCakes, Café Sebastienne, Extra Virgin, Lon Lane’s Inspired Occasions, The Jacobson, Local Pig, Natasha’s Mulberry & Mott, Remedy Food & Drink, Reserve, The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange, The Roasterie, Room 39, Snow & Co. and Starker’s Restaurant. Still more sponsors donated funds, wine and silent and live auction items.

Guests even got to vote for their favorite, and Lon Lane’s Inspired Occasions won the People’s Choice award for at least the second year in a row.

And then there was the bar. Boulevard Brewery supplied beer, including its far-too-quickly tapped out Rye-on-Rye. Dark Horse Distillery and Moonlight Liquors provided ample spirits that four of the town’s finest bartenders crafted into cocktails.

Travis Stewart, Jake Cole, Jenn Tosatto and Brock Schulte brought their mad bar skills to the fight

Jake Cole of Port Fonda created a Michelada (Port Fonda’s hot sauce, maggi, Tecate beer, salt and lime), while Travis Stewart, Port Fonda’s bar manager, served up his Siberian Punch (Samogon Russian grappa, Kronan Swedish Punsch, Ceylon fruit tea, an oleo saccharum made with lemons and sugar and nutmeg).

Brock Schulte, who manages The Drum Room’s bar, offered Long Shot Limeade (Dark Horse’s Long Shot White Whisky with cherry limeade). And the always amazing Jenn Tosatto, bar manager at The Rieger, created the Night Rider (Dark Horse Rider Vodka with lemon, honey cider syrup and soda water).

Still, no one had more fun than the judges, who sampled all the dishes and ultimately named Pope winner. The panel included Debbie Gold, executive chef of The American Restaurant and winner of Food Fight 1 in 2010; Doug Frost, Master Sommelier, Master of Wine, host of KCPT’s Check, Please Kansas City and all-around drinks guru; Katie Van Luchene, executive editor of Kansas City Magazine; and Kevin Marsh, a food enthusiast known for his Facebook catalog of vibrant food photos who for the second year in a row bought his judging rights at auction.

Judges Doug Frost, Debbie Gold, Katie Van Luchene and Kevin Marsh

The three chefs put judges’ palates through their paces, bringing successive waves of starters, mains and desserts. (Author’s note: I did my best to take notes on the chef’s descriptions, but I may have missed an ingredient or method or two. Feel free to amend my reporting by commenting on this blog.)

Pope began with a seared beef tartar garnished with a sweet potato chip, a dish Frost described as a “delicious mess.” He followed with braised cod with salami, sweet potatoes and a vadouvan sauce.

Yeah, I had to ask what that was, too.

Pope described it as a French curry sauce, made by first sweating finely chopped onions, garlic and shallots and then mixing them with freshly toasted and ground fenugreek, cumin, coriander and other spices. It’s all then roasted again until it turns into a sweetly spicy, sticky paste. The result was what Marsh called nicely curried without being too curry-forward.

Or, as Frost put it, “this is a head trip of a dish. This is just crazy, with the sweet potatoes, the salty salami—I just can’t describe this thing.”

Alex Pope and Jerry Fisher

Pope’s finish was a swirling funnel cake with sweet potato cream cheese, lemon and orange sugar and a sprinkle of sea salt. In other words, “carnival food gone upscale,” said Van Luchene.

Howard Hanna (winner of Food Fight 2) kicked off his menu with an Italina crudo-style flank steak tartar brightened with green olives, shallots, lemon juice, olive oil and black walnut pesto. I know the sweet potatoes were in there somewhere, I just couldn’t hear where when he described the dish to judges. It must have worked for them, though, because they praised it as both delicious and lush.

Howard Hanna prepping the secret ingredient: Thane Palmberg’s sweet potatoes

Hanna’s main course featured a vodka-battered tempura cod (Hanna said vodka evaporates more quickly than water, thus making for a crispier tempura) with a mini cast iron skillet sidekick containing salami, three types of pepper, sweet potato roasted with garlic and olive oil.

For dessert, Hanna served a classic almond financier, nestled in a sweet potato, butter and brown sugar sauce and garnished with amaretto cherries. But the sweetest part? When Hanna gave props to Pope for allowing him to borrow his deep fryer.

“He let me fry my fish in his fryer before he did his dessert, so I hope the funnel cake didn’t taste fishy!” Hanna told the audience.

Michael Smith’s flair showed through in each of his creations, beginning with a sautéed cod smeared with black garlic. That was garnished with saffron sauce, a relish of pickled ramps and okra and a sprinkle of tiny dice sweet potatoes and accompanied by a quinoa-stuffed piquillo pepper.

“The presentation is absolutely gorgeous,” Marsh commented. “I could take pictures of this all night long.”

Ryan Sciara and Michael Smith

Next up: a chipotle- and cumin-marinated flank steak, seared and served with a smoked cheese-topped tamale, another unrecognizable sauce (I couldn’t recognize it with all the background noise, anyway—something with sweet potatoes, maybe?) and a sprinkle of baby Swiss chard.

Smith, who topped Food Fight 3, finished with a brown butter and walnut flour financier finished with cherry sauce, sweet potato chips and candied black walnuts that were tasty enough to have the judges wishing for more.

Just watching it all, I felt my envy that the judges got to taste it all melt into relief that I didn’t have to choose between the chefs. I had the opportunity to do so a couple years ago, and so I know first-hand what a tough job it is.

Pope seemed pumped at having won, but the real winners, as always, were the kids who attend CCVI. It’s truly one of the most worthy organizations in Kansas City, and I’m lucky to have been able to support it in such a delicious way.

The event might feel familiar to those who’ve attending the Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition over the past five years. The PoPFest version is again organized by Ryan Maybee of The Rieger/Manifesto, wine and spirits savant Doug Frost and Brandon Cummins, an all-around awesome cocktail dude. It’s again at The Uptown Theater. And there will again be a tasting room and food from local restaurants.

But this year, I promise you, it will be even bigger and better.

Finalists from Kansas City, Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma will batch their drinks for the tasting room, and then make them onstage for the judges. They’ll also have to prepare a surprise classic cocktail (check out the Top 26 as chosen by Barsmarts) and demonstrate their industry knowledge.

The Farmhouse, Tannin Wine Bar & Kitchen, The American Restaurant, Local Pig, Chez Elle Creperie & Coffeehouse, Farm To Market Bread Co. and Gram & Dun are providing food. There will also be live music from Loaded Goat (a local band featuring The Drop’s Eddie Crane), The Late Night Callers and The Grisly Hand and burlesque performances, if you’re into that sorta thing. You get all that for $25, plus one free drink token.

Pernod Ricard USA’s sponsoring this year’s event, so it will be awash in brands like Absolut vodka, Jameson Irish whiskey, Chivas Scotch, Glenlivet single malt, Beefeater and Plymouth gin, Avion tequila and Kahlua liqueur.

Can’t wait to see what these finalists do with all that:

Chris Burmeister, The Goose and Bramble & Hare, Boulder, Colo.

Chris Conatser, Justus Drugstore, Kansas City, Mo. (first place, 2008; third, 2009; second, 2010)

Carol Donovan, Hearty Restaurant, Chicago, Ill.

Phoebe Esmon, Kennett South 2nd, Philadelphia, Pa.

Giovanni Ferlaino, Ludivine, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Liz Pearce, The Drawing Room, Chicago, Ill.

Alberto Santoro, Extra Virgin, Kansas City, Mo. (finalist, 2011)

Matt Seiter, Sanctuaria, St. Louis, Mo. (finalist, 2011)

Travis Stewart, Port Fonda, Kansas City, Mo. (finalist, 2010 and 2011)

Jenn Tosatto, The Rieger Hotel / Manifesto, Kansas City, Mo. (finalist 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011)

Paige Unger, Michael Smith Restaurant, Kansas City, Mo. (finalist 2010 and 2011)

Arturo Vera-Felicie, The Farmhouse, Kansas City, Mo. (finalist 2008; first place, 2009)

10. He’s the king. Really, when a guy knows so much about cocktails, and is so generous in sharing his expertise, that he earns the title “King Cocktail,” he’s someone you should know.

9. Fresh juice. Mixes out of a gun and canned juices ruled the day when DeGroff took over New York’s newly restored Rainbow Room in 1987. He proved that bars should—and could—use freshly squeezed juice in cocktails. What was then an astounding new trend is now practically mandatory.

8. Joe Baum. This legendary restauranteur hired DeGroff at the Rainbow Room and demanded he recreate a nineteenth century bar stocked only with fresh ingredients. Why’s he on this list? Because Baum also helped design The American Restaurant.

7. DeGroff wrote the book. Literally. His The Craft of the Cocktail is required reading for anyone who owns a cocktail shaker.

6. He’s into Kansas City. “I love Kansas City,” DeGroff told me during this year’s Tales of the Cocktail. “I love the music. It’s at the heart of America. It’s a cool place.”

5. Pimento Aromatic Bitters. DeGroff makes them, and they’re fantastic, with layers of allspice (or, pimento in Jamaican), anise and other spices.

4. He’s a nice guy. DeGroff has never once refused me an interview. That counts for something, especially when you’re on deadline with articles like this 2007 piece I wrote for the Kansas City Star.

3. Jill DeGroff. I’ve only spoken to Jill once on the phone, but she seems lovely. She’s a self-described “saloon artist” and author of Lush Life: Portraits from the Bar.

2. Beverage Alcohol Resource. He’s a founding partner of BAR, the most gruelling and complete bartender education program around. Survive both it and the United States Bartenders’ Guild Master Accreditation testing program, and you’ve got the mixology and spirits equivalent of a Master of Wine or Master Sommelier certification.

1. Night on the Town. It’s DeGroff’s tribute to the great tradition of American bars, and he’s bringing it to Nica’s Cafe tonight. Buy a ticket. Go. You won’t regret it.

“It’s not just about beverages,” says Brandon Cummins, who together with Maybee and Frost created the event. “It’s about Kansas City’s culture.”

There are dinners and tastings—tequila at Mestizo, Angostura bitters at The Rieger, agave-based spirits at Crayola Café and wine-tales (wine-based cocktails) at The American Restaurant.

There’s music—Snuff Jazz, a self-described experimental and improvisational jazz project, will play at Grünauer while Justus Drugstore bartender Chris Conatser serves up Horsefeathers (whiskey and ginger beer). Mark Lowrey and the New Jazz Order will offer a Tanqueray-sponsored Count Basie tribute at the not-quite-opened Kill Devil Club.

You already missed Chris Conatser’s Monday session on molecular mixology at Justus Drugstore—check out the PoPFest calendar to get in on everything else!

There are parties—cocktail competition finalists Berto Santoro, Paige Unger and Conatser cracked open some Barrel Aged Negronis at Extra Virgin last night, but there’s still the Midwest Mohawk Melee. It’s at The Rieger, where mohawked competition finalists Jenn Tosatto, the bar’s manager, and Matt Seiter, bar manager of Sanctuaria in St. Louis, will duke it out. KC Magazine’s also hosting it’s “Best of KC” awards at The Gallery with sponsor Dark Horse Distillery on Saturday night.

There’s philanthropy—KCPT is the beneficiary of the PoPFest Gala on Monday. It’s not just any gala, though. Attendees will also get to judge the final round of the Washington Cup, the only competition exclusively for American-made spirits and liqueurs.

And of course there’s the Paris of the Plains Bartending Competition on Sunday, when a dozen finalists including both familiar KC faces and bartenders from Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma will take the stage at The Uptown.

But PoPFest is also an incredible opportunity to learn from some of the industry’s greats. It’s a testament to the professionalism and reputations of the festival’s organizers that they’ve managed to collect all these guys in our city, for our first cocktail festival. As much fun as all the other stuff is, you definitely don’t want to miss these:

The Soul of Agave, 10:30a Friday—Steve Olson and Ron Cooper will discuss tequila and mezcal, offering tastings of both the spirits and cocktails made from them. Olson is a nationally known spirits writer and educator with accolades too numerous to list here. Ron Cooper is founder of Del Maguey Single Village Mezcals, and is responsible for almost single-handedly spreading mezcal throughout the U.S.

Punch & Judy, 1:15p Friday—David Wondrich will present a session on Irish whiskey and its role in punch. But you will undoubtedly get much, much more than just whiskey and punch. Wondrich wrote Imbibe! and Punch, knows more about where cocktails came from than anyone and is perhaps the most entertaining historian you’ll ever meet.

Dave Wondrich attempts to safely recreate Jerry Thomas’ mixing of a Blue Blazer during this year’s Tales of the Cocktail.

Paris of the Plains, Sez Who? 3p, Friday. John Simonson, a journalist with a love of what he calls street-level history, wrote Paris of the Plains. It’s packed with compelling vignettes that would otherwise be lost to the newspaper archives, like Lou Gehrig’s final game which really, truly was played in Kansas City. I’m told his session will include a bit of a reveal, something he turned up in his research that has until now been riding on hearsay. It’s killing me to miss it.

Double Distilled, Double Scotch, 10:30a, Saturday. Paul Pacult, founder of F. Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journal, will lead a Scotch whisky tasting. Haven’t heard of him? He’s only the country’s best writer on the topic.

Mother’s Ruin or Gin Palace? 1:15p, Saturday. This will be an exceptional gin tasting and discussion of the spirit’s complicated history. It’s led by a trio who knows its way around a bottle: Angus Winchester, Tanqueray’s global ambassador (and who was recently named Best International Brand Ambassador at the 2012 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards); Chris Patino, the manager of trade education for Pernod Ricard USA; and Jim Ryan, brand ambassador for Hendrick’s Gin.

On a Dessert Island, 3p Saturday. Ryan Maybee co-owner of The Rieger and Manifesto, is teaming up with chocolatier Christopher Elbow to show how beautifully alcohol and chocolate play together. Maybee recently upped his cocktail cred (if such a thing was possible) by competing against 15 bartenders from 13 countries in the final round of Angostura’s 2012 Global Cocktail Challenge and heading a team from Manifesto in the Tales of the Cocktail Bar Room Brawl. Elbow’s expertise goes way beyond chocolate to include ice cream, beer and, indeed, cocktails. Plus, he’s really, really nice.

BeerTails! 4:30p Saturday. Andy Jenkins, Certified Cicerone (not an easy certification to earn) with Boulevard Brewery, will explain the synergy between beer and cocktails with the help of Ryan Maybee and Ryan Conklin from Euclid Hall Bar & Kitchen in Denver. I’m partial to a shandy, myself, but I suspect this trio will take it way beyond that simple mix of beer and lemon-lime.

And finally, there’s Dale DeGroff. His event—billed as Dale DeGroff’s Night on the Town—is part seminar, part party, part you’ll-regret-it-if-you-miss-it experience. DeGroff is credited with resurrecting the classic cocktail during his stint at New York’s Rainbow Room, and his The Craft of the Cocktail is required reading for anyone who owns a shaker. You can immerse yourself in 40 year’s worth of DeGroff’s cocktail memories on Thursday night, but don’t think it’s all old-timey stuff. Talking to Dale is like mainlining current cocktail culture, trends and perspective. Proceeds benefit The Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans.

Dale DeGroff signing books, selling his Pimento Aromatic Bitters and telling me why he loves Kansas City during the 2012 Tales of the Cocktail.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, Frost, Olson, Wondrich, Pacult and DeGroff are all partners in Beverage Alcohol Resource. In other words, the guys responsible for training some of the best bartenders in the country. You could say they know their stuff.

Most of these are ticketed events (some have a cover charge—go to the PoPFest events page to figure out which is which) but if you have even a passing interest in cocktails and their role in Kansas City’s culinary culture, they’ll be worth every penny.