Hundreds of cooking enthusiasts and fans turned up to greet celebrity TV chef Duff Goldman at the Forum Shops of Caesars Palace—and my former Food Network colleague Bill Boggs hosted the cook-off with local chefs going spatula to sieve competing for the Chef Crystal Award.

Chef Dave Simmons from the Stage Deli defended his last year’s win in the finals, but lost to Chef Jose Aleman from BOA who stunningly prepared six amazing dishes in less than 12 minutes of the final round!

Among the surprises was an appearance from sassy Amy Reilly, a master of gastronomy and author of the controversial aphrodisiac cookbook “Fork Me Spoon me.” Amy, who lives part-time here in Vegas, told me even she’s surprised by the sales success of the book, but it proves that people want to stay home to cook and then have real fun in or out of the kitchen!

Duff has been cooking since age four when he started watching TV cooking shows. The day-long event included live cooking performances, demonstrations, an entertaining seminar, samplings of food and beverages, autograph signings and then the round-robin local chef cook off, which also featured Chef Kiko Ojeda of The Palm, Chef Kiichi Okabe of Sushi Roku and Chef Matt Montoya of Trevi Italian restaurant.

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