Behold, Sunday afternoon’s Chefs for Famers Get Some #@&% Credit Sous Chef Competition, to which my photographer friend and I were media guests. Eight sous chefs competed for $1,500 and bragging rights by making a dish with ingredients from one of the farms supported by Chefs for Farmers, the organization run by Matt and Iris McCallister. Ticket sales from the sold-out event raised money for Café Momentum (several of the program’s students were there assisting chefs) as well as the farms that provided the ingredients. Bolsa bartender Kyle Hilla honored the late restaurateur Randall “Big Cat” Copeland by mixing bourbon-based Boulevardiers, while three pastry chefs competed in a sweet side competition.
FT33’s Misti Norris made a goat dish with a whole animal from Windy Hill Farms; Matt Balke, who apparently ended his sous chef reign at Bolsa the night before the competition to become executive chef at Sharon Hage’s Rustic, made pea terrine with vegetables from Spiceman’s FM 1410; Central 214’s Derek Blackburn made an egg (sourced from Peace and Love Farm) and asparagus custard; Boulevardier’s Gmo Tristan made a lamb loin dish with meat from Sterling Farms; the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek’s Jared Harms made chicken (from Windy Meadows Family Farm) with a mint yogurt; The Grape’s Danyele McPherson created a jalapeno and cheddar sausage with pork from Legend Meats and Crystal Creek, served with corn, black eyed peas, and a little pork belly bacon; Trinity Groves Stedman Belyan made duck confit with vegetables from Tassione Farms; and Lucia’s Kevin Dean made a beet salad with arugula and beef from Burgundy Pasture Beef.
Gmo Tristan of Boulevardier took home the win; Danyele McPherson received the second highest number of attendee votes. Now, photos:
