Banh Mi Throwdown Puts Judges' Table Seat Up For Auction

Miss your chance to get tickets to Monday evening's Banh Mi Throwdown at Ba Bay? So did everyone else. Well, the good news is that two more tickets have become available to the pre-Taste of the Nation event. The bad news is that you might not be able to afford them. But if you can then there's more good news — one ticket is a seat at the judge's table with chef R.J. Cooper, WaPo writer Tim Carman, and Amanda McClements of Metrocurean.

Event organizers have put the pair of tickets up for auction on eBay now through Friday. The highest bidder will get to choose between Ba Bay, Dino, Lyon Hall, Proof, PS 7's, and The Source for the "best banh mi" crown on March 14, with an extra ticket so a friend can snap a pic of your Padma impression. So far the auction is up to $182.50 (with four bidders and nine bids), more than seven times the original ticket price. Still, it's for a good cause: Proceeds from the auction go to Share Our Strength's campaign to combat childhood hunger.

· Join Metrocurean As A Banh Mi Throwdown Judge [Metrocurean]
· DC Banh Mi Throwndown [eBay]