Almost Famous Chef Contest Held at Culinary Institute
A chef who grew up in Burbank was one of the six finalists, and another local guy took home the grand prize.
All of the dishes were delicious. There was the Dijon-crusted pork chops with crispy panko topping and apple gastrique. There was the Italian pancetta wrapped around beef flatiron steak broiled with a chanterelle potato gratin.
Whew! Studio City Patch was delighted to participate Tuesday evening in judging the S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition as a media judge—subbing for North Hollywood Patch editor Craig Clough—at the International Culinary School at the Art Institutes, Hollywood located in North Hollywood.
Top chefs from around the area sat on a panel with four media judges to pick which one of the six students heads to the final competition in March in Napa Valley, Calif. where the overall winner takes $22,000 in prizes and a career-changing apprenticeship with a master chef.
This 10th annual competition was held at the new state-of-the-art school in North Hollywood at 5250 Lankershim Blvd. and the students in the competition are among the best of 73 schools across the country and Canada vying for top chef.
The chefs who were on our panel included Chef Allyson Thurber of Vu Restaurant at Jamaica Bay Inn; Lynne Thomas of the Lobster; Chef Steve Lona of Bistro 45 and Chef Nicco Chessa of Valentino.
The media judges included Bryan Mahoney of the Burbank Leader; Gina Cohen of Edible Orange County and Victoria Recano of the Hot Dish.
We were supposed to judge how the young chefs were explaining themselves, describing their dishes and presenting themselves, because of course, these days, it’s important to have a bubbly and interesting personality when you’re a chef.
But, as I pointed out at the beginning of the panel discussion, in front of an audience of fellow taste testers, “I didn’t see any of the backstabbing and yelling that I expected to see back there in the kitchen.”
In fact, there seemed to be great cooperation and community spirit among the young chefs.
Winner Joseph Johnson, of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, who lives in Pasadena, said, “We all thought each other’s work was so good, no one really knew who was going to win. We all did our best.”
Sevada Armen, who grew up in the North Hollywood area, said he went to Burbank High School where he is still in touch with the culinary arts teacher who inspired him to become a chef.
“I want to make the school lunches better in the schools,” he said while fixing poached halibut with saffron rice and oven-roasted tomatoes with Mediterranean green sauce. He ground his own spices by hand in the kitchen. “I think there needs to be better foods on the campus and the students all think so, too.”
Some of the chefs asked pointed questions to the contenders, such as Chef Lynne Thomas asking Armen why the fish was a bit cool by the time it reached the judges. The chefs have two hours each to make eight entrée dishes for the judges, and student chefs follow the same recipes for the audience, but if they go overtime they are severely docked in the competition.
Jennifer Pack from Estacada, Oregon whipped up pancetta wrapped flatiron with mozzarella pearls. She was interested in turning kitchens into environmentally sound places, and said, “Green kitchens and sustainable meals are the way of the future for us all.”
Anne Wolfe of Calistoga, Calif. said she liked to go out of her comfort zone, so she made Baharat-pistachio crusted lamp with turnip puree.
Victoria Azevedo served in the military and always wanted to be a chef. From Modesto, Calif., she served up chicken ballotine served with a kale and cabbage sauté with fried potato cakes.
Todd Berry from Seattle made Dijon crusted pork chops and served them with Brussel sprouts. He said he was finished with enough time to call his wife and give her an update on the competition.
Winner Joseph Johnson is originally from Petersburg, Virginia and said a “chef needs to be a person who ahs the personality and skills necessary to represent themselves well in the public eye.” He said he was shy in high school, but when he worked in an open kitchen where guests could see and talk to him, he understood the importance of having a relationship with the guests.
The chefs not only have cooking training, but they get training in media as well, and how to give interviews and present themselves.
As judges we had wine and Pellegrino water (of course) in between dishes and also time to discuss with the audience what we thought. Individual sheets with comments were tallied and everyone was graded in various categories—for example, the kitchen chef monitors were grading preparation and set-up and cleaning up their stations.
I agree with Johnson’s pick as top choice, but all of the dishes were great, and all the young chefs seemed to truly enjoy what they’re doing. No doubt they’ll all be cooking up a storm wherever they land—and I hope to be judging them again!
