Houston Bay Area Chef Competes in 2010 Great American Seafood Cook-Off – New Orleans
America’s finest chefs showed their skills in seafood preparation today at the 2010 Great American Seafood Cook-Off, held in New Orleans for the seventh straight year. The event, which has featured both up-and-coming and celebrity chefs over the years, underscored the importance of cooking with domestic seafood and encouraged the use of products from sustainable fisheries.
Chef Dean Max of 3030 Ocean at Marriott Harbor Beach and Spa Resort in Fort Lauderdale, FL was crowned “King of American Seafood.” Alabama’s Wesley True of True Restaurant in Mobile, AL captured second prize, while Maine chef Mackenzie Arrington of Morrison’s Maine Course in Portland, ME and New Jersey’s Peter Fischbach of Gourmet Dining Services at NJIT in Newark, NJ tied for third.
Emmy-winning wildlife conservationist Jeff Corwin, host of Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin Experience and Food Network’s Extreme Cuisine co-hosted the Cook-Off with Chef John Folse, who is often recognized as Louisiana’s Culinary Ambassador to the World.
Earlier this year, Great American Seafood Cook-Off organizers invited all 50 states to hold a state qualifying round or appoint a chef to compete in Saturday’s competition at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, during the Louisiana Foodservice Expo.
The cook-off featured 14 teams, each preparing a domestic-seafood dish that reflected the cuisine of their home state. Judges representing the top echelon of the culinary arts crowned the King of American Seafood 2010. Last year, Chef Tory McPhail of Commander’s Palace in New Orleans won with his Creole Mixed Seafood Grill, and was on-hand to pass the crown to this year’s winner.
Chef Max’s winning dish was Sebastian Inlet Clams BBLT (bacon, basil, lettuce, and tomato). Earning second place was Chef True’s Gulf Shrimp Two Ways with jumbo lump crab, salad of local yellow watermelon, martini olive, cucumbers and heirloom tomatoes with macadamia coconut puree. The third-place tie went to Chef Arrington’s Pan Seared North Atlantic Red Crab Cakes with Citrus Aioli, Roasted Red Pepper Coulis, and Micro Okra and Tangerine Greens and to Chef Fischbach’s “Jersey Coast,” a trio of Jersey-caught lobster, black bass and sea scallop.
Fourteen contenders for the title flew in from across the nation to represent their home states : Alabama, Wesley True; Alaska, Al Levinsohn; Idaho, Randy King; Florida, Dean Max; Illinois, Greg Volle, Kentucky, Jeremy Ashby; Louisiana, Chris Lusk; Maine, Mackenzie Arrington; Mississippi, Vishwesh Bhatt; New Jersey, Peter J. Fischbach; North Carolina, Bud Gruninger; Oregon, Woojay Poynter; Texas, Paul Lewis; West Virginia, Ed Fischer.
Bay Area Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau President Pam Summers and Rebecca Thompson accompany Chef Paul Lewis of Cullen’s Upscale American Grille at the recent Great American Seafood Cookoff.
|
