Iron Fork 2012 Tickets Now Available, Discounted This Weekend [Updated]

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What are you doing on the evening of Thursday, March 22?

Wrong. You're coming to Iron Fork, Riverfront Times' annual tasting event, at the St. Louis Union Station Marriott.

This year, for the first time, the paper asked me to set the table for the evening. To that end, I've selected the 30 local restaurants that will showcase their chefs' creations at the event, not to mention the four who will compete, Iron Chef-style, in front of the thousand-plus guests, vying for top honors from our panel of celebrity judges.

We've also hand-picked twelve of St. Louis' best drink-slingers for a cocktail battle royale.

Tickets cost $35 in advance ($45 at the door, if the event isn't sold out), which includes unlimited food samples and tickets for three full-size drinks. These are available through the official Iron Fork website.

However, through this Monday, February 20, you can purchase a general admission for $17 -- that's more than half off! -- through Voice Daily Deals. Don't procrastinate, though: Only 400 of these discounted tickets are available.

The list of restaurants whose participation we've confirmed is after the jump. We haven't revealed which four chefs will square off against one another, so once you've scoped out which restaurants will be there, tell us which chefs you'd like to see compete!

Update: (Monday, February 20, 7 a.m.) The discounted tickets have sold out! Tickets at the regular price of $35 remain available.

Confirmed Participating Restaurants

Bogarts Smokehouse Harvest Home Wine Kitchen Kelly English Steakhouse Mad Tomato Italian Kitchen Market Grill Milagro Modern Mexican Niche Pappy's Smokehouse Pearl Café Riverbend Restaurant & Bar Salume Beddu The Tavern Kitchen & Bar Scottish Arms Shaved Duck Salt Pi Haveli PM BBQ Le Tejana Taqueria The Mud House Dressel's Public House Pho Long La Vallesana The Vine Cafe