Is Mom's Recipe Ready for the Big Time?

Fort Greene residents, it's time to find out if your mom really is the greatest cook in the world!

A new contest at Chez Lola will pit locals' home recipes against one another in a showdown that stretches back generations. "We want to uncover some delicious hidden treasures and their stories, too," declared co-owner Charlotta Janssen. "Bring on the recipes!"

In fact, the first-place winner will have his or her family recipe immortalized — well, at least for a while — on the Chez Lola menu!

Co-owners Janssen and Denis Costaz are asking locals to submit family recipes in the form of words, pictures or even videos on the restaurant's website in an effort to "bring home-cooking back to the table."

If you're the type who loves to recreate your grandmother's famous gumbo at home and want to bring her flavorful recipe to the masses, then it’s time to step up to the stove.

Here's how the contest works: Participants will submit their recipe online, and selected entry dishes will be served as nightly specials from Jan. 15 through April 15. Then the five most popular recipes will be judged by a select Brooklyn foodie panel to determine whose dish reigns supreme. Second and third prize winners will each receive a complimentary dinner for two, and the first prize winner will receive a dinner for four as well as a spot for the winning dish on the menu.

Of course, to the victor also go neighborhood-wide bragging rights.

But the contest isn’t just about the glitz, glamour and grub. Janssen, Costaz and Chez Lola chef Octavio Simancas believe that family recipes are worth being shared, and their origins celebrated. Janssen,

“Home cooking’ sounds like something that took place in a kitchen between the 40s and 50s with a crisp apron and maybe a petticoat,” said Janssen. “But the real form of home cooking is very different.”

Janssen added that the "Bistro Without Borders" wants to unite the neighborhood’s taste buds through this contest.

"It's a unique way to get to know what our neighbors are cooking," said Janssen, adding, "not to mention craving."

To learn more about how to submit a recipe to the 2011 Lola's Gonna Cook Your Mama's Dish contest, go to the website here. Or simply stop in for dinner over the next few months to taste the competing dishes.