Welcome
to Battle Citrus
They say, “If
life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” But,
luckily, our talented Central Coast chefs came
up with much more inspiring dishes when CCM gave
them lemons—and yuzus,
tangerines, limes, kumquats, and other citrus
fruits. The challenge, set before 20
of the finest chefs from Ventura to Monterey,
was to concoct four extraordinary, and, of
course, delicious culinary masterpieces using
the common
citric ingredient. Not only did we get a taste
of bright, tangy, sweet, and sour ecstasy 80
times over, but we also witnessed a profound
demonstration of the culinary brilliance we
are privileged to enjoy whenever we step foot
in
these local restaurants.
Of course, there is nothing
like a little competition to really get the
creative juices flowing, and
the genuine zest for cooking that our chefs
demonstrated led to the most exciting—and
toughest—Ultimate Chef Central Coast competition yet.
Battle Lemon
After a scintillating and
scrumptious education in the versatility
of vitamin-C enriched
fruits of all sizes and shapes, we tallied
the scores
and pitted the two top chefs—Chef
David Reardon from Bacara Resort and
Spa in Santa Barbara
and Chef Evan Treadwell from Lido Restaurant
at Dolphin Bay Resort and Spa in Shell
Beach—against
each other for our first live cook-off.
Now wielding only the mighty lemon (and
its hybrids) as the
new secret ingredient for their recipes,
they vied for the title of 2008 Ultimate Chef Central
Coast in Santa Maria High School’s
new
state-of-the-art
kitchen
classroom.
With
two
restaurant
assistants
and
two
student
aides
from
the
school,
they
battled
side-by-side
in
adjacent
complete
kitchens,
while
cameras
from
KCOY rolled.
Even in an unfamiliar
environment, laboring
painstakingly before a literally drooling
audience with the
timer ticking, and given a mere lemon—still,
these brilliant culinary masters managed
to present the six judges with four sublime
dishes.
Reardon
and Treadwell are two of the finest chefs
anywhere and, in the end, merely one-and-a-half
points
out of a possible 100 separated them.
And the winner is… |
