Kyle Barton wins FRITOS brand Chili Cook-Off at Principal Park

On Saturday August 7, Principal Park hosted the first annual FRITOS brand Chili cook-off as the three finalists Kyle Barton, Nickole Modglin and Pat Brown battled for the rights of best chili in Des Moines. After several entries were picked, poked and pried over, these three lucky Des Moines residents gathered in the concourse in hopes of becoming the first ever Des Moines FRITOS Brand Chili cook-off champion and the winner of a $500 gift card to Dahls Foods.

Kyle, Nickole and Pat arrived around three and were escorted to their already prepped cook-off stations. The competition heated up as the burners were turned to high flame and aromas filled the ballpark as each contestant became a bit more nervous for six o'clock judging time.

With a line gathering outside of the main entrance, and right around the corner from our contestants, they wondered if this was all for a taste of their chili. Gates opened at 5:35 p.m. and people rushed into the stadium but couldn't help but stop to smell what's been cooking. Six o'clock rolled around and the spatulas were put down, it was now judgment time.

The five judges included executive staff from the Iowa Cubs - Randy Wehofer, Mark Dempsey, Katie Moorhead, Jim Nahas, and certified chili judge and Centerplate staff member Les Davis. The group patiently waited at the judging table as the FRITOS chili dishes were collected from Kyle, Nickole and Pat. While judging was underway, contestants were side-tracked with fans asking chili related questions and tasting the free samples.

Each judge was to review five criteria of each chili: taste, consistency, aroma, appearance and aftertaste, then score each with a one to 10, 10 being the highest. With a possible high score of 250 points our winner, Kyle Barton, was only 13 points higher than second place with a total of 207 points. One judge had a total score of 49, thinking his chili was pretty near to perfect.

Kyle, who is also the Iowa State Hog Calling Champion, celebrated on-top of the third base dugout with Nickole and Pat and gave the fans a hog call of his own after becoming the first FRITOS Chili Cook-off winner in Des Moines and collecting a $500 gift card to Dahls.