baton rouge, louisiana

April 4-6, 2008

Gulf Coast Chef Challenge

The region's best chefs will go head-to-head during the Gulf Coast Chef Challenge, the newest addition to the Southern Breeze Wine + Culinary Festival. This live one-hour cooking competition will take place on Saturday, April 5 at 10 a.m. and is open only to the media.

Eight local chefs will be invited to participate in this "Iron Chef" style of competition. The chefs will be given a common protein and will choose a starch and vegetable used in the creation of a meal for this unique culinary competition. After one hour is given to prepare the delicacies, each chef's creation will be critiqued by a panel of judges, and an all over winner will be named. The winner, who will be announced during the Grand Wine Tasting, will go on to compete against winning chefs from Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida in the Fall to be named the Southern Breeze Gulf Coast Chef Challenge Top Chef.

Chef Tim Creehan of Beach Walk Crystal Beach and Creehan's Copper Grill in Destin, Florida will be the emcee for the event.

Chef Jason Gronlund, Executive Chef for Tabasco will participate in the judging of the Chef Challenge

Please check back in the near future for specific recipes.

See these Gulf Coast chefs go head-to-head in this brand new competition:

Justin Ferguson
Executive Chef, Capital City Grill
Scott Vernendoe
Executive Chef, Varnedoe's Carriage House Restaurant
Chuck Wheeler
Executive Chef, Copeland's of New Orleans Baton Rouge
Michael Loupe
Executive Chef, Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center

More about the Festival in Baton Rouge

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