You’ve heard of Top Chef but does Hop Chef ring a bell? As you may have guessed, there is beer involved. Certainly your attention has been grabbed by now but in case your senses need more convincing, do know that this new competition, presented by Brewery Ommegang, involves some of Philadelphia’s most talented chefs and their creative ability to pair food and beer.

On Tuesday, July 10 at 7 p.m., the young chefs will compete in Brewery Ommegang’s Philly Hop Chef (click here for tickets) for a chance to represent the city in a cook-off at the brewery’s annual Belgium Comes to Cooperstown event.  Six chefs will each create two dishes showcasing their imaginative beer and food pairing skills. The 12 dishes, all paired with Ommegang beers, will be served to a panel of judges and to all attendees. Philly Hop Chef will be held at World Cafe Live (3025 Walnut Street, 215-222-1400) and tickets are $55 per person.

“Beer and food belong together – whether as a thoughtful beverage pairing or as an ingredient – and this competition will bring together some of Philly’s best young chefs into the kitchen with our beers,” says Megan Maguire, Ommegang Market Manager.  “We can’t wait to see what the chefs will dream up.”

The outstanding line-up of competing chefs includes:  Joe Cicala of Le Virtù;  Jon Cichon of LaCroix at Rittenhouse Hotel;  Jason Cichonski of Ela;  Nicholas Elmi of Rittenhouse Tavern;  George Sabatino of Stateside;  and Scott Schroederof South Philadelphia Tap Room and American Sardine Bar. The chefs will be judged based on five pairing principles:  Simple Pairing, a direct interaction between food and beer;  Incorporation, utilizing beer in the cooking process;  Mimicking, matching the flavor profile of a dish with the flavor profile of a beer;  Story Telling, tracing the history of the dish and the beer;  and Experimental, making beer the star of the dish.

The Hop Chef Competition is part of the Ommegang program known as Great Beer Deserves Great Food, a national initiative dedicated to the idea that fine beer deserves its rightful place at the table with fine foods.  The Philadelphia event is the final in a series of chef’s cook-offs across the U.S., culminating in a Grand Hop Chef cook-off at Ommegang’s Belgium Comes to Cooperstown festival on August 4, 2012.

In the weeks leading up to Hop Chef, people can follow the chefs on Twitter (hashtag #HopChef) as they taste Ommegang beers and create their competition dishes.  For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/252555 or click here.  You can also follow Ommegang on Twitter @BreweryOmmegang and @OmmegangPhilly.