FOUR TOP COACHELLA VALLEY
CHEFS WIN AT
2008 DATE CHEF COMPETITION
Some 500 Attended 8th
Annual event at Fantasy Springs Resort
Casino
INDIO,
CA.
– (April 27, 2008) Today four top
Coachella Valley Chef came away winners in
the California Date Chef Competition held in
the Special Events Center at Fantasy Springs
Resort Casino.
First Place Appetizer trophy went to
Alain Redelsperger,
executive chef at The Vintage Club, for his
Duet of Foie Gras and Date Chutney. The Strasbourg native chose to
pair dates with foie gras which is a
specialty in his hometown. This
was Redelsperger’s first time to enter the
competition, after The Vintage Club pastry
chef Yasmin Martin won the desserts category
two consecutive years in 2003 and 2004.
Martin assisted Chef Redelsperger at
the event.
First Place Entrée
for her New Mexico Red Chile & Date Crusted
Brandt Filet Mignon was Leanne Kamekona,
executive chef at Rancho Las Palmas Resort &
Spa. Many of
the 500 guests attending agreed, as Kamekona
also won People’s Choice, which is voted for
by the tasting public.
Leanne was a past People’s Choice and
Best of Show Winner in 2005 while chef at La
Quinta Resort & Club, La Quinta.
First Place
Desserts went to Joel Rettzo, pastry chef at
Spotlight 29 Casino, for his Trio of Dates:
Date Shake, Apple Tart, Date Truffle Log.
This was the first year chefs from
Spotlight 29 entered the competition.
Best of Show winner was Roy Luna,
executive chef at Azul Restaurant & Bar at
The Trilogy in La Quinta for his Date and
Moroccan Spiced Pork Lollipop. Roy had been a finalist in
the 2005 competition.
The four were among 15 professional
chefs competing Sunday as three panels of
judges each tasted and evaluated a selection
of the appetizer, entrees and dessert
entries, with specific criteria that
included best use of dates, originality,
flavor and overall presentation.
Fantasy
Springs Executive Chef Freddy Rieger,
chef/host for the event, said, “This was a
bigger event than last year with a full
slate of chefs whose intriguing appetizers
and entrées and over-the-top desserts drew
raves from the crowd attending.
People who don’t think they like dates are
amazed when they taste dates in creations
like these.”
The Best of Show Winner, Roy Luna,
will be a celebrity judge for the Art of
Food & Wine Palm Desert’s Opening Night
“Food Flight” on Thursday, November 6, and
the other winners will be featured at the
Golf Tournament, Friday, November 7 and the
Grand Tasting on Saturday and Sunday during
the four-day event November 6-9.
Finalists representing major hotels,
casinos and top restaurants in the Coachella Valley
included Morongo Resort Casino’s Sous Chef
Eddie Garcia and last
year’s People’s Choice and previous year’s
Best of Show winner, Assistant Executive
Chef Mark
Sickenberger of Morongo
Resort Casino, and last year’s Best of Show
trophy is Jose
Luis Bravo, executive sous
chef at Fantasy Springs.
From Desert Springs JW Marriott,
Palm
Desert, were Adam Hayes,
chef of the Lake View Restaurant, and
Nicholas Wiener, chef at the SeaGrille.
More past winners who competed were
Rancho Las Palmas Senior Pastry Chef
Tiburcio Neri, who won First Place Desserts
in 2001 and 2002, representing Rancho Las
Palmas Resort and Spa, Rancho Mirage.
Executive Chef Brett Maddock from
Arnold Palmer’s Restaurant, La Quinta,
competed again this year, and was a top
contender last year.
Other past finalists back for the
2008 competition included 2003 Best of Show
winner William
Withrow, who represented
Azur Restaurant at La Quinta Resort and
Club, La Quinta.
New on the roster were Alex
Gutierrez, pastry chef at Hyatt Grand
Champions Resort, Villas and Spa, Indian
Wells; Valentina Columbo, chef instructor at
Le Cordon Bleu, Las Vegas, Nev.;
and Vincent Viale, executive chef at
Teppenade Restaurant and Fine Catering, La
Jolla, Calif.
The eighth annual Date Chef
Competition is sponsored by the California
Date Administrative Committee, representing Coachella Valley’s
date growers and handlers, with platinum
sponsors Fantasy Springs Resort Casino.
For information, please call (760)
347-4510 or visit online at
www.DatesAreGreat.com
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