By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

Two Roadie Joe’s chefs will represent the Eastern Shore at a large-scale international food competition in Indianapolis, Indiana, this month.

On Thursday, Oct. 16, Josh Morrison, the head chef at Roadie Joe’s Berlin, and Daniel Burke, the chef from Roadie Joe’s Salisbury, will compete in the general chef category at the World Food Championship (WFC) tournament, which is set to kick off on Wednesday, Oct. 15 and conclude on Sunday, Oct. 19.

Chefs from all United States states and countries across the globe, like England, Australia, Japan, and Italy, will be represented in the competition, going head-to-head with the local culinary experts.

The general chef category is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 16, where Morrison and Burke will have 90 minutes to create and plate their dish for the opening round, said the WFC’s website. The top five highest scoring cooks from each of the 10 categories will move onto the final round on Sunday.

Chefs will be given an hour for the final round. The rules stipulate that in the last series, both a required and a mystery ingredient must be featured in the dish.

Roadie Joe’s was given the opportunity to compete at the WCF following a qualifying event at the Berlin Farmer’s Market in August. During the preliminary occurrence, local Berlin chefs, including Justine Zegna of Blacksmith Berlin, Toby Gilbert of Gilbert’s Provisions, Yancey Carapico of The Cap’ns Slice, and Morrison of Roadie Joe’s Bar and Grill participated in a Guy’s Grocery Games-style competition.

At the Berlin contest, the competing chefs had to choose a protein from one of the Maryland farmers, with options including a seafood item caught by Skilligalee Seafood, a pork item from Foxhound Farm, or mushrooms from The Bay Mushrooms.

Once the participants made their first selections, they picked out three additional ingredients from other Maryland farms at the market to include in their dish. The chefs returned to their stations, where they cooked the creations live.

The winner of that challenge was promised a ‘golden ticket,’ or a qualifying slip to attend the WFC this month. According to Roadie Joe’s co-owner and executive chef Jason Myers,  technically, Zegna of Blacksmith Berlin was victorious at the farmer’s market. However, because she was unable to attend the WFC, the honor to represent the Eastern Shore was passed to Morrison.

Morrison was allotted a partner and opted to bring Burke, Roadie Joe’s Salisbury’s head chef.

Now, the pair is gearing up to put their best dish forward in Indiana.

“Right now, every single day I am taking notes,” Morrison said. “I am watching things, talking to [Burke]. Learning from [Myers]. I have been plating up and doing things differently.”

Roadie Joe’s co-owner Jeremy Norton said that the chefs are leaning towards preparing some sort of wild game for their opening round dish, an homage to the restaurant’s annual week-long tradition featuring wild game.

“It’s definitely some sort of wild game, I’m thinking, because we do a really awesome wild game week every year where we bring in boar ribs, we bring in kangaroos,” he said. “It’s really cool. We feature ostrich and alligator, as well as a variety of other cool food specials, including different types of wild game. I have a feeling that’s where the guys are leaning right now.”

Myers added that the chefs will likely prepare a duck breast with an Eastern Shore spin. The executive cook said that his team hopes to showcase their culinary prowess at the competition.

“[Morrison] ran some ideas by me and I gave him some pointers,” Myers said. “Our menu at the restaurant is for everyone, there’s cheesesteaks and burgers and things more approachable , but we all have a culinary background, so we like to do high-end stuff now and then. With that said, we said, ‘Let’s make a duck breast.’”

“So we shot some ideas back and forth of how to do a duck breast set, and [Morrison] had an idea of how he wanted to do it, and I added some nuances, and I am going to have him cook the dish for me and the other owners and we’ll taste it and dissect it. He might also add an Eastern Shore flair to it.”

Burke said that the competition will span various levels of expertise, from Michelin chefs to self-taught and social media influencers. As for their advantage, the team will rely on collaboration, creativity, and a strong culinary background.

“I think the teamwork and the camaraderie and a good backbone in the culinary arts are going to help out,” Myers said.

Morrison added that he and Burke’s strong suits will strike an advantageous balance, necessary for success at the competition.

“[Burke] has more of a creative side,” the Berlin chef said. “He likes different cartoons, and he likes to bring that to his menus. I’ve learned from the fine dining aspect, and I know how to bring that.”

Myers said that for him, having Roadie Joe’s represented in the competition is exciting, because it is another step forward in putting Berlin on the map.

“Even if it wasn’t Roadie Joe’s doing it, I think it would have been awesome for any of the Berlin restaurants to do it, because I think the marketing and the notoriety that comes with it is through the roof,” he said. “Obviously, if you advance a couple of rounds in the contest or win the contest, you’re going to get a lot of publicity from it.”

He continued, “It’s cool because I went to Buckingham Elementary School and I went to Stephen Decatur High School, so to try to get Berlin on the map bigger, that means a lot to me having roots in the town.”

As for Morrison and Burke, they are looking forward to learning from the hundreds of chefs they will interact with from around the world.

“I want to meet people,” Morrison said. “I want to see what other people have out there. I want me and [Burke] to walk around and network. Maybe we can meet people from California or Australia, and we can bring things that they know back to our little, fancy-type dive bar…We can bring something from different restaurants out there back to us. [Burke] can bring it to Salisbury, I can bring it to Berlin, and we can do different things and look forward to the future of bringing cool stuff to Roadie Joe’s.”

Burke added that he is also looking forward to showcasing the stellar flavors that exist on the Eastern Shore.

“The biggest thing is just getting our name out there more and showing people we’re not just some typical Eastern Shore bar and grille,” he said. “We have a lot of culinary talent at both [the Berlin and Salisbury locations], and just on the Eastern Shore in general.”

The WFC will take place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds next week. The contestants will compete for a title and a share of the tournament’s total $450,000, which will be distributed among the winners.