Tag: Canadian Culinary Championships

  • Canadian Culinary Championships 2018

    Canadian Culinary Championships 2018

    In the dozen years I’ve been helping adjudicate the Canadian Culinary Championships, there has never been a more impressive parade of dishes at the Mystery Wine Pairing. Yes, the wine is stripped of a label, known only for its Canadian content and colour, and yes, 30% of the marks are for the food-wine match…. But […]

  • And she’s off… Briana Kim & team at CCC 2018

    And she’s off… Briana Kim & team at CCC 2018

    Greetings from Kelowna, home (for the past eight years) of the Canadian Culinary Championships. Our Ottawa Gold Medal Plates winner, chef Briana Kim of Café My House, is here with her team, ready for the weekend long competition that will see a new Canadian culinary champion wrest the cup and the honour from Calgary’s Jinhee […]

  • Kim heads to Kelowna

    Kim heads to Kelowna

    “There’s a lot going on all the time…” chef Jamie Stunt told chef Briana Kim. “It can be a bit overwhelming. Don’t be distracted by any of it. Try to stay focused.” Stunt was talking about his experience six years ago, when he led the kitchen at Oz Kafe to a silver medal at the […]

  • Canadian Culinary Championships 2017

    Canadian Culinary Championships 2017

    When all was said and eaten and the judges’ marks tabulated, on the podium at the Canadian Culinary Championships stood two Alberta chefs and our man from Ottawa. Calgary chef Jinhee Lee of Foreign Concept won the event — the first woman to take the top prize since 2007. The bronze went to Chef Eric Hanson […]

  • Gold Medal Plates 2016

    Gold Medal Plates 2016

    Photo courtesy Gold Medal Plates The eleventh Ottawa-Gatineau Gold Medal Plates was a grand night of feasting and partying in support of our Canadian Olympic athletes. It was also, of course, a cooking competition, one that brings together ten of the National Capital Region’s finest chefs. We ate incredibly well this year, the dishes as […]

  • Atelier chef Marc Lepine handed cup and keys

    Atelier chef Marc Lepine handed cup and keys

    “Am I in the right place?” he asked me. I was walking into restaurant atelier on Tuesday morning, and Max introduced himself as a cameraman assigned to take some photos of a chef. “If you’re here for the official presentation of the Canadian Culinary Championships trophy to chef Marc Lepine then yes, this is atelier […]

  • Canadian Culinary Championships 2016

    Canadian Culinary Championships 2016

    Well folks, he did it again. Commandingly. Again. It was déjà vu at the Canadian Culinary Championships 2016, as Ottawa chef Marc Lepine, together with his Atelier team (sous chef Jason Sawision, chef de partie Justin Champagne, and sommelier Steve Robinson) soared ahead of the pack at the mystery wine pairing competition and then won […]

  • The Black Box Competition 2016

    The Black Box Competition 2016

    Change is usually always a good thing, and the changes made at this year’s CCC Black Box competition were that. In past years, chefs had to use all the ingredients in the box to create two dishes (or one year, they selected 6 out of a possible 10 ingredients); this year, there were seven ingredients […]

  • Mystery Wine Pairing competition

    Mystery Wine Pairing competition

    With 500 bucks stuffed in a back pocket and a bottle of label-less wine in hand, eleven chefs scoured the Kelowna markets to buy the raw materials to make 400 plates of food. A dish to impress, yes, but also to kiss the wine on both cheeks. And what was the wine? Apparently, every one […]