Chefs compete at La Posada

The dining room at the La Posada retirement community was unusually empty this weekend, but the fires in the kitchen were still burning while nine chefs from around Southern Arizona competed for the title of Culinary Chef of the Year in a cook-off organized by Pima Community College and the Chef’s Association of Southern Arizona.

“You get pretty full pretty quickly,” said Ellen Fenster, a chef at Ambrosia and the Chantilly Tea Room who drove down from Tucson to help out with the competition.

Fenster has served as a judge for the competition in previous years and toys with the idea of entering one day herself.

“You really have to save yourself,” she said of the “gorgeous” plates that came from the kitchen.

The chefs were presented with a basket containing meat and fish selections and one “mystery” ingredient that had to be incorporated into the meal. The mystery ingredient turned out be cranberries, which chefs infused into salads and sauces.

Within 30 minutes of reviewing their ingredients, the chefs had to write up a three-course menu to be presented to the judges. The chefs had three hours to prepare the meal.

They were judged on service and taste, as well as proper sanitation procedure, said Elizabeth Mikesell of Pima Community College’s Culinary and Food Industry training program.

This is the competition’s fourth year. It was previously held at the culinary school’s campus, but it was decided that it would be “more logical” to have it at La Posada this year so some of the residents could get a chance to sample the food, Mikesell said.

And they did sample the food, said Ralph Chavez, executive chef for La Posada. He said 36 residents bought plates of food prepared by the competing chefs, raising about $2500 for the Chef’s Association scholarship fund for aspiring chefs to study at Pima Community College.

“We personally asked our residents if we could use their dining room for the competition and they graciously granted us permission,” said Ralph Chavez.

Lindsay Wilson, a chef at the Ventana Room at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, won first place in the competition.

Jason Jonilonis, executive chef at El Sol Casinos, won second place, and Jay Ganzhorn, executive chef at Northwest Hospital and Will Sakset, sous chef at La Posada, tied for third place.

Chris Johnson of JW Marriot at Star Pass Resort won the Pastry Chef of the year competition.

Chavez said the competition was very close, with the results coming down to hundredths of a point between the chefs.

“We were really spilling hairs on stuff,” Chavez said. “That’s how close it was.”

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