Dueling Chefs 2008 Finals

Charles Lazzareschi of Dayton Street Grille vs. Andrew Lickel of Samba

As part of the Madison Food & Wine Show, pairs of chefs from some of the area’s leading restaurants go head-to-head, cooking in elimination heats. Patrick O’Halloran from Lombardino’s and Robert Von Rutenberg from the Nau-ti-Gal are emcees. Each chef has the same pantry of basic ingredients to work with and right before the competition begins the secret main ingredient is revealed. Each participant and his or her assistant then have 30 minutes to create two different dishes. Four judges then score the dishes on flavor, presentation and use of mystery ingredient. The winning chef proceeds to the next round.

The mystery ingredient for the championship round was American kobe flatiron streak. I was one of the judges along with Mayor Dave, Raphael Kadushin and someone selected from the audience. Here are the four dishes made for the final round of this culinary cookoff.

Robert and Patrick

Dish 1, Dayton Street Grille:

Dish 1, Samba:

Dish 2, Dayton Street Grille:

Dish 2, Samba:
And the winner is … Charles Lazzareschi of Datyon Street Grille.

Star Alumni

Writing about “Chef of the Year” Derek Rowe of Harvest, I mentioned that his first job in a restaurant kitchen was at L’Etoile. Harvest owner Tammy Lax also once worked there as chef de cuisine and chief forager. Since 1976, countless L’Etoile’s employees—chefs, cooks and servers—have moved on to become stars in their own right. Some have found fame in the big city like Elka Gilmore who opened acclaimed restaurants in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Others stayed closer to home like Chef David Kasprzak and his wife Jane Sybers who run Dining Room 209 Main in Monticello. Eric Rupert now is corporate chef for the Sub-Zero Corporation here in Madison. Of course I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention Madison’s favorite bartender, Mary Ward, who now presides as Queen of Libations at The Chophouse and once worked at L’Etoile as well. Seemingly, wishes made at L’Etoile can be dreams come true.

7th Annual Madison Food & Wine Show
October 17 – 19 at the Alliant Energy Center

(Website)

It’s coming up this weekend (more information is on the website) and for the sixth year in a row, I’ll be one of the three judges for the final round of the Dueling Chef competition (Sunday, October 19 at 3 p.m.).