Dallas' Favorite (Or Least Favorite, Depending Who You Ask) Celebrity Chef is Emceeing Iron Fork

Iron Fork, the Dallas Observer's annual food- and booze-tasting event, is next week, and the foodie extravaganza just added a little dose of celebrity: Top Chef alum and Dallas steakmaster John Tesar.

Take a break from gorging yourself on unlimited food samples (and eight booze samples, with the opportunity to purchase more) to pop over to the main stage, where Tesar will emcee the Chef Challenge, a live cooking competition that will pit Aaron Staudenmaier of Lovers Seafood & Market against Eric Dreyer of Fearing's. The two will throw down in a cooking contest that will rival anything you've seen on MasterChef or Iron Chef. They'll be given a basket of secret ingredients from Whole Foods and have to cook up something wicked on the fly, all while Tesar makes 'em sweat and entertains the crowd.

That is but one part of Iron Fork, which will offer eats from some of the best restaurants in DFW: Cane Rosso, Shake Shack, Ten50 BBQ, Hash House a Go Go, Grayson Social and more. It's all going down from 7 to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26, at Centennial Hall at Fair Park, and you still have time to snag tickets. Right now, general admission is $45 and VIP is $75, but those prices will increase next week, so grab tickets soon.

Iron Fork 2017, 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, April 26 at Centennial Hall at Fair Park, 1001 Washington St.