The Yum Yum Factor

Last night was the San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Regional Competition and we now know that Canada will be sending   Jean-Christophe Comtois of École hôtelière de la Capitale in Quebec City to Napa in March. There he will compete in the 11th Annual Finals Competition along with competitors from 75 other culinary schools across North America. His winning dish was one of my favourites and was causing quite a bit of rumbling and happy noises on bloggers row. The little square of deep fried, crispy polenta provided such a nice crunch to balance out the silkiness of the veal and the puree. I also really enjoyed Kellie Callender's dish of salmon with a beet infused quinoa, voted People's Choice. For now, go and download the Almost Famous Chef Recipe Ebook  for lots of other great dishes from contestants, past and present. It was a stressful, pressure filled night of cooking, plating, presenting and then justifying their dishes to the panel of judges in front of ...

I have been fortunate enough to be invited to watch the Almost Famous Chef competition for three years in a row. The S.Pellegrino Almost   Famous Chef Competition is a cooking competition that brings together students from over 75 culinary institutions across the United States and Canada. During the competition they battle for a chance to compete for all kinds of great prizes and be judged by nationally renowned chefs at the finals competition in Napa this March.  This whole thing is a kitchen smack down between over 75 culinary students from across North America. Each region sends it's winner to a final contest that takes place in Napa Valley in March. They are judged on their cooking skills but also on how professional they are, how well they perform under pressure (god knows a professional kitchen might present a bit of a stressful working environment from time to time) as well their performance while being questioned by the media and the judges. me and the 2012...

me and the winner,  Daniela Molettieri This is the second year in a row that I was invited to attend the Canadian Regional San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef competition held at the Calphalon Culinary Centre here in Toronto. Six young canadian chefs from all over the country went head to head to win a spot in the final competition in Napa Valley where they will compete , hoping to win the title of The Almost Famous Chef as well as a nice fat cheque.

I have been invited to attend the S.Pellegrino  Almost Famous Chef competition in Toronto taking place on January 30th at the Calphalon Culinary Centre . The winner of this contest will go on to compete against the  nine winners from all of the other regions in the final contest in Napa, California. Thanks to their generosity, I am also doing my first Give Away. I feel very official and respectable! I went last year as a guest of Jen from Piccante Dolce , who generously offered to drag me along for one of my first event as a food blogger. I wrote about it in  February and was just so thrilled to be there, tasting all of the great food and watching the competition. I got to tour the amazing Calphalon kitchen while the contestants raced to finish their dishes for the judging and tried not to get in anyone's way while I snapped away with trusty iPhone. I was kind of hoping that one of these shiny pans would fall into my purse by mistake, but it was not happening. I ...