It was tough. The competition was hotly contested and as delicate as the difference between a good and bad hollandaise. The Fourth Annual Art Association of Harrisburg’s (AAH) "Art of Food" Culinary Competition was a food fight with manners … for all but a single sore loser. Held at the AAH historic galleries at 21 North Front Street, it was indeed a feast for all the senses.

Anthony Haubert handled the grand piano with ease and sated the ear.

The current AAH exhibit "Diner’s Club: Gourmets and Gourmands" certainly more than filled the requirements of the eye.

But ah … the glorious food! It, too, dazzled the eye, but also the nose and the tongue and the touch.

John and Ronnie Trogner manned the Troegs Brewery table and Capital Wine and Spirits feted those attending with a luscious punch. Matt Davis and Rob Yurick of the Warwick Hotel in Hummelstown offered scrumptious salmon tartlets with red and black caviar, crab stuffed gourgeres, and eclairs.

The Judges, Brian Peffley and Robert Corle, both instructors at the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center, and Suzanne Yeager Hoffman of the Kitchen Shoppe of Carlisle, took on a daunting task.

"Our scoring relies heavily on eye appeal, at least three-fourths of the marks, since we are not tasting," says Mr. Peffley, who was also a Pastry Chef at the Hotel Hershey for ten years. "Then we consider the presentation, color contrast, and originality to place the winners. Everything must be edible and appetizing."

Judges Corle and Peffley then used two entries as examples to explain the judging process. A roast rabbit entrée had wonderful texture, a very appetizing aspic glaze, potato gnocchi tinted to a rich deep red with beet juice — taking a very original approach to color contrast — and seldom seen rolled truffles.

But the judges’ favorite was the dessert by James Woltman of the Hotel Hershey, a dish that took Best of Show. It was a cheesecake with alternating pumpkin and white chocolate pinwheel wedging, short dough crust with an incredibly intricate dam line of chocolate, all the while controlling the placement of cinnamon anglaise and cran-raspberry sauce on the plate. The ending flourish of the chocolate line was a flawlessly executed twirl with three or four dots of chocolate in perfectly proportionate descending size. It was a cross between a Picasso and Miro. But wait! As a finale, Woltman fashioned an impossibly difficult lyrelike chocolate grid, which he then stood upright as garnish. Add a dollop of cinnamon ice cream and … mmm.

"Asymetrical, very clean, top of the line entry," concluded Peffley. "In fact, this entire show is high end, with a good representation of the wealth of talent right here in our region."

The entrée submitted by Woltman was also a winner, earning a second place. YinYang salmon and swordfish with stir fried vegetables, Wasabi potatoes with soy lobster cream and roasted red pepper oil was his colorful, Oriental style entry.

Tim Harris, executive chef of Shippensburg University, landed first place in the Dessert category. He entered a mixed chocolate Bavarian cream with contrasting layers of white and dark chocolate, accompanied by kiwi, mango, and raspberry dipping sauces, all arranged atop triangular platforms of walnut hippen cookie. Inverted cones of rolled hippen were arranged along the back, with chocolate discs skewered on each cone. His table display was a riot of colorful napkins, a vase of flowers and an artists palette made with rolled sugar paste, called ‘pastillage’ which is pure white, representing the absence of color.

Harris also placed first in the "Garde Manger" (gar monjay), meaning hot or cold food served cold, in a tie with Dwayne Spenser of the Tangerine in Philadelphia. Spenser also received first in the Entrée category. Other winners include Anthony Augustine of the Harrisburg Hilton (second place in the Dessert category), Sebastian Durand of the Hotel Hershey (second place in the Garde Manger category), and James Woltman of Hotel Hershey (second place in the Entrée category).