Five Nashville chefs set for Iron Fork battle at Harken Hall

Harken Hall in Nashville will host the Iron Fork chef competition on Nov. 12. Five local culinary professionals are scheduled to cook in front of a live audience for the annual event. The contest features a diverse group of chefs from across Davidson County. They will each prepare a dish using a surprise ingredient provided by US Foods.

Dung Vo, known as Junior, is the executive chef and partner at Noko, Kase x Noko, and Noko Yaki. He won the Best Chef writers’ choice award in the recent Best of Nashville issue. Vo was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, and moved to the United States as a child. He previously worked with Indigo Road Hospitality Group in Atlanta and Charleston. In 2022, he opened Noko in Nashville with partners Jon Murray and Wilson Braddock.

Alfredo Bueno serves as the executive chef at 888. He manages the main kitchen while Kiichi Okabe runs the sushi bar inside the same building. Bueno began his career in Mexico City and worked in kitchens in Cancún, Austin, and France. He joined Bourbon Steak in Nashville in 2022 before moving to 888. He qualified for Iron Fork by winning the Battle of the Best Bite at the Music City Food & Wine Festival in the spring. His winning entry was a Hamachi Truffle Handroll.

Marcio Florez is the executive chef at Limo Peruvian Eatery. He spent more than a decade operating The Inka Trailer food truck before opening his East Side restaurant. Florez attended Nashville State Community College for culinary school. He specializes in Peruvian cuisine that blends Andean and Pacific ingredients with international influences. His background in a compact food truck kitchen prepares him for the limited equipment and time pressure of the Iron Fork stage.

Ana Aguilar and Joshua Cook compete together as the founders of Tantísimo. The couple met while working at Husk restaurant. Aguilar brings Latin American culinary knowledge, while Cook focuses on seasonal and local sourcing. They grew their business from a pop-up at the Richland Park Farmers Market to a brick-and-mortar location in Sylvan Park. The pair won the 2026 StarChefs Nashville Rising Stars Award for their work. Their menu features dishes with origins ranging from Mexico to Argentina.

The competition requires chefs to cook at individual stations with restricted tools and ingredients. The audience votes on the dishes as they are served. Attendees also have the opportunity to bid in an auction to sample the creations. The five participants represent a mix of established restaurant leadership and newer local concepts. All five chefs have distinct culinary backgrounds that they will bring to the Harken Hall stage.