Standing on an elaborate stage in front of a sold-out crowd at Wednesday night's D.C. Food Fight, a surprisingly slight but eminently well-dressed Anthony Bourdain denied Chef Ris Lacoste her third win, instead crowning Roberto Donna as this year's champion. No, a threepeat wasn’t in the cards; Roberto Donna—who Bourdain referred to as "sweaty dude"—eked out two wins in preliminary rounds to barely top Lacoste in the final. The secret ingredient, Romanesco (which we presciently featured last week), was transformed into a spicy ragú with escargot and yogurt foam by Lacoste, but Donna's soup (the ingredients of which I couldn't catch, the sound was horrible) "reigned supreme" as they say.

The evening was an impressive show of Washington's culinary prowess. Our city's chefs, two by two, had ten minutes to create a dish out of the round's secret ingredient. Then the judges—Bourdain, WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi, Ronald Reagan Building Executive Chef Xavier Deshayes, and 2005 Auction winner Christopher Floyd—judged each dish on appearance, taste, and use of ingredient. Hosts José Andrés and the Food Network´s Mark Silverstein kept the evening rolling along, prodding Bourdain for bon mots, ribbing Donna for his poor showing on Iron Chef, and shoving mics in the Chef's faces for explanations of their dishes. While entertaining, it came across as a bit of a goat rodeo. Maybe it was because Dave Lieberman, who was scheduled to co-host the event, was a no show…again.

So, the folks there were forced to trade Lieberman for just-as-swoon-worthy Ken Oringer—who acted as Lacoste's sous chef for the evening. But I was there for food and a show! I wandered around the tasting area for delicious vittles and watched as Bob Kinkead (Kinkead's) and Santi Zabaleta's (Taberna del Alabadero) beef carpaccio and mixed greens eliminated Vikram Garg (IndeBleu) and John Wabeck's (Firefly) tower of something or other and mixed greens —again, bad sound—in Battle Mixed Greens. After a sake or two, and an excellent Hook and Ladder Porter, Tim Elliot (Mie & Yu) and Jamie Leeds' (Hank's) seared loin with curry coconut sauce and pomegranate reduction fell to Roberto Donna (Galileo/Bebo) and Anthony Chittum's (Notti Bianche) lamb napoleon in Battle Lamb Loin. Spaniard Andrés pronounced the Italian Donna incapable of using the third battle's secret ingredient: veigadante, a Castilian goat cheese. It wasn't the case, however, as the semi-final match fell to the Donna/Chittum team's one seared beef loin with goat cheese over Kinkead/Zabaleta's two dishes plus an amuse featuring the cheese.

Granted, I didn't get a taste of anything the chefs were cooking, but by appearances of the dishes and the creativity involved, it wouldn't be surprising to me if Donna was given a leg up so there would be a final Lacoste-Donna showdown. Let's face it, that's sexier news than a Garg-Wabeck final, no? However it happened, the judges sided with Donna and Chittum in the end. Despite Bourdain's assertion that there would be "blood and hair on the walls" when the competition ended, there was no such carnage. All that was left at the end were full stomachs, empty wine bottles, and tens of thousands of dollars more for D.C. Central Kitchen. Not bad for a rainy Wednesday.

Photo of totally awesome food fight by sarahduckins.