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Chefs To The Field Competition Fierce, Soaking & Totally Rad…

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Jonathan Chovancek, stoked at a rainy then sunny Chefs To The Field day in Richmond

Instead of going home after getting off the plane from my Okanagan Summer Wine Festival trip (see here), I went directly to Richmond’s  Terra Nova Rural Park to judge the annual Chefs To The Field cooking competition in support of the Terra Nova Schoolyard Society.

chef Neil Taylor of Cibo Trattoria making tagliatelle by hand, quickly...
chef Neil Taylor of Cibo Trattoria making tagliatelle by hand, quickly...

On hand and plating wonderful bites for the many hundreds of foodies who braved the rain were several of Vancouver’s cooking schools and chefs from Cibo Trattoria, Raincity Grill, Diva, Goldfish Pacific Kitchen, Wild Rice, and many other Lower Mainland restaurants. Joining me as judges were Barbara Jo McIntosh of Barbara Jo’s Books To Cooks (interview), Araxi executive chef James Walt, chef/restaurateur Manny Ferreira of Senova and Le Gavroche, and chef/restaurateur Bruno Marti of La Belle Auberge.

Chef Vicente Mabanta of Steveston's Blue Heron presents his dishes to the judges
Chef Vicente Mabanta of Steveston's Blue Heron presents his dishes to the judges

It’s one of my favourite events to judge because it’s split into two competitions: one between culinary students from across the city, the other between the pros. Both are given basic larder eseentials (vinegars, olive oil, spices, flours, etc), 90 minutes in the garden to choose the freshest ingredients possible, 1 secret ingredient for the students with with they must prep one dish, and 2 secret ingredients for the pros, with which they must prep an appetiser, a main, and a dessert.

Javier Alarco (standing left) with the judges and his crew...
Javier Alarco (standing left) with the judges and his crew...

Javier Alarco’s crew from The Sheraton Wall Center won for the pros. To be honest, I ate from 30 plates of food so I can’t remember what he and his team prepared. I do remember that their secret ingredients were goat’s cheese and agar agar (whoever dreamed up that bit of delicious cruelty is a gorgeous bastard), and that I had a four way tie for 1st on my score sheet between The Sheraton, Raincity, Diva, and Cibo Trattoria.

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Event organiser Ian Lai reveals the mystery ingredient: land-based aquaculture Coho salmon from Agassiz

The mystery ingredient for the students was land-based aquaculture Coho from Bruce Swift’s awesome farm in Agassiz. I’ve been amazed at how well the students have done in the past, and this year they all performed exceptionally well. There was one  really young guy from VCC who totally knocked us out. He came 2nd, but probably would have won the thing had he not been just a little too conservative with his seasoning. His fish was so simple and so flawlessly presented that when we later found out he’d been cooking for just six months we sought him out afterwards just to shake his hand. His name is Chris Sinclaire. Watch for him in 10 years.

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And that was that. It rained and then it got sunny. My kids likely destroyed at least an acre of perfectly good farmland between facepainting, card-making and drum circles, and I gained enough agar agar, goat’s cheese and coho to spawn a new genus. Rain or shine fun, as befits a Sunday in August.

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There are 6 comments

  1. it seems you should at least get the name of the fellow that won first place ???

  2. Javier Alarco and his crew from the Sheraton won.

    If you mean the student competition, I’m afraid all of my notes were submitted to the mark tabulators so the name of the winner escapes me. If I’m not mistaken, I believe he was an apprentice at Goldfish in Yaletown.

    Sorry for the omission.

  3. PS. If anyone knows the name of the fellow who won the student competition, please remind me.

  4. Jack Lin was the apprentice from Goldfish.

    The competitors for the winning Sheraton team were: Omar Halabi ; Shachar Stern and Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver student Eric Kwok