I arrived at the Taste of the NFL’s “Party With a Purpose” foodie fest planning to stalk the TV celebrity chefs hosting the pre-Super Bowl party: Food Network’s Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli, Bravo’s ever-insecure Top Chef Richard Blais, and Travel Channel’s man-who’ll-eat-anything Andrew Zimmern. But that plan fizzled fast.

Alex proved prickly and charm free, blithely uninterested in the world-class restaurant scene she’d parachuted into. “I know people speak very highly of Houston’s food scene, but not this trip,” she said, not even trying to sound disappointed she’d be here less than 24 hours. Blais pretty much ghosted the whole event, and Zimmern bounced around glad-handing guests like he was running for office.

So, Plan B. What’s to eat? Tucked under two tents the size of football fields were three dozen of the country’s best chefs – one from each NFL franchise city, plus a few extras – raising funds for regional food banks. They were rolling out tray after tray of delicious small bites, each paired with one of E&J Gallo’s better-than-expected “signature series” black label wines.

Entering the first tent, I was smacked in the face by the aroma of sizzling bacon. Never a bad start. At the Miami Dolphins’ station, the Burger Bar was scooping stonecrab chowder (photo below) topped with “millionaire” bacon. Former Miami Dolphins linebacker John Offerdahl, who has his own string of South Florida restaurants, kept touting it as caramelized bacon, but no. Candied. And one of the few dishes I ate to the last drop.

Across the aisle, University of Houston’s ice sculpture logo signaled the Hilton school had brought its “A” Game. UH chefs Brent Gorman and Mark Riley offered up some of the prettiest plates of the night: monster lambchop lollies (photo at top) so tender they didn’t need the rosemary honey-Dijon smear, and gorgeous squares of Nutella and white chocolate croissant bread pudding (photo below) with amaretto anglaise. My expectations for the evening ratcheted up a notch.

Bayona’s chef Susan Spicer from New Orleans was around the corner searing off gorgeous chunks of smoked drum, topped with pickle aioli and popcorn rice. Smiling enthusiastically, Spicer gave Houston’s dining scene all the love Guarnaschelli lacked. “I love Houston’s food scene, with all its ethnic mix-ups,” she said. “Last night we ate at Oporto, this Portuguese restaurant with some Indian influences from the guy’s wife. I swear we ate half the menu.”

Chef Jack McDavid, of Jack’s Firehouse in Philly, demonstrated serious cojones by daring to bring barbecue. “You know if you’re from up north and you bring brisket to Texas, it had better be good,” he said. The banner proclaimed it Amish Virgin brisket, which I guess means his cattle can’t watch TV. But why virgin? “Because when you eat it, it tastes like the first time,” McDavid said slyly.

Also with considerable chutzpah was chef John Howie (photo below), of Seattle’s Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar, dishing up chili, which can be as divisive as politics in this town. “They told me I couldn’t, when I asked to bring chili,” he said with a grin. “I said if I make it with wagyu beef, is that special enough? It’s a little overkill. I started with more than 40 pounds of it, but some has just melted away. And that kick at the end is habanero.” Both silky and fiery, the chili by a Pacific Northwest seafood chef attracted a long line of fans. Chef Howie also gets props for cooking on injured reserve: A trigger-finger repair went bad last month, and they had to split his right palm nearly in half to clean out the infection. He shyly lifted the sleeve of his jacket to reveal an IV line still pumping antibiotics every half hour.

Down a bit further, chef Marc Payero, who cooks at the NFL headquarters’ cafe in Manhattan, brought one of the night’s best bites: five-spice duck confit with pickled veggies, plum sauce and cilantro in a steamed bun. He dreamed up the dish on the subway, commuting between Midtown and Queens. “I play a lot with flavors in my head on the subway,” he said. “Then I get to the restaurant and start mixing things up. Dis was one of doze.”

I couldn’t taste everything, but I did my best. Even though that sometimes meant eating half a bite and tossing the rest – a rather decadent thing to do at a fundraiser devoted to hunger relief.

It wasn’t hard to let go of the shaved Brussels sprouts chef Tyler Herald (photo below) brought from Patachou in Indianapolis. “Really, you couldn’t think of anything better to bring?” I asked him. “So, I take it you don’t like Brussels sprouts?” the pony-tailed stunner replied. After politely sampling a bite, I carefully placed the rest in the trash. “Tasty marinade, good effort,” I said – and he dismissed me with a “Bah” and a wave of his hand.

I came expecting to be biased for hometown hero Robert Del Grande (photo below), the host chef for the event. His seared flatiron steak with egg salad, beef cracklings and micro greens was pure Cafe Annie and the best bite of the night. “It’s a fun twist on steak and eggs,” he said. “I let all the other chefs pick first. Then I realized we didn’t have as much beef as I wanted, and who likes beef more than me?” When he participated in this event last year in San Francisco, he only recognized a few faces, when some regulars dropped by his station. “Here I know everybody!” he said, grinning broadly. “And it’s not a competition; we’re collaborating. The problem is hunger in America. Let’s work together to solve that.”

To wind things up, The Band Perry jammed while ladies with seriously low necklines and equally high heels huddled around outdoor heaters in the alfresco table zone between the tents. This being Houston and the mercury below 60 degrees, we even had fur. Not sure which was the evening’s worst overkill: those mink jackets or that wagyu chili. But combining those might just be the perfect description of Super Bowl Houston.