A native of America’s cousin across the Atlantic took home the
honors of the festival’s first ever
”
Garlic Showdown,
”
Gilroy’s iron chef competition that pitted four culinary masters
in a heated battle for the prize, a $5,000 check and, of course,
garlic, 1,000 pounds of fresh Christopher Ranch gold.
Gilroy – A native of America’s cousin across the Atlantic took home the honors of the festival’s first ever “Garlic Showdown,” Gilroy’s iron chef competition that pitted four culinary masters in a heated battle for the prize, a $5,000 check and, of course, garlic, 1,000 pounds of fresh Christopher Ranch gold.
Englishman Tony Baker, executive chef at Montrio Bistro in Monterey, wowed the five judges with his combination of garlic and artistry, serving them a stuffed pork tenderloin wrapped in panchetta and salmon on a roasted garlic potato galette.
“I’m absolutely bloody stoked,” Baker said, as he was presented the larger-than-life check to the accompaniment of his family cheering section.
Baker did not fail to give credit to sous chef Kirk Larsen, as they jubilantly hugged following the announcement.
The four master chefs, sponsored by Bay Area radio stations, provided their own cookware, utensils and spices for the tournament, but did not know until the stopwatch started ticking away the 75-minute prep time what other ingredients they would be working with, except that garlic would play a major role.
For this inaugural competition, written recipes were forbidden. The idea behind the event was to showcase the creativity and flexibility of the chefs.
The bleachers surrounding the stage on three sides were filled to near capacity, with stragglers filling the openings at either side, as the chefs and their assistants quickly assessed the ingredients and exchanged rapid-fire instructions with their sous chefs, plotting the quickest way to create a masterpiece which would incorporate not only garlic, but the fresh vegetables, including summer squash, asparagus, vine-ripe tomatoes, a rainbow of peppers, lentils and potatoes, to compliment the sock-eyed salmon and lean pork loins.
Knives flashed in the sunlight, as the white-coated chefs and their assistants rapidly sliced vegetables and meats, and the intensity of the contest built as one team after another was given warning for their completion time. Sauces were energetically whisked to perfection, as risottos were tossed and fritters fried, chefs wiping heated brows as festival volunteers ran to and fro with offers of icy bottled water, the shaded stage area steaming with ovens and stovetops adding to the heat of the day.
“It’s just so exciting to watch,” exclaimed Cadie Moore of Sunnyvale, a festival regular who was thrilled to hear about this year’s addition to regular events. “I’m certainly no chef, but I love to cook, and to be here and watch all this, smell the good smells, is just great. I really hope the festival will continue this.”
Garlic Festival President Judy Lazarus said she hopes the event will become a festival staple.
Yellow-shirted committee members, who delivered the plated delights created by the chefs, also said they were excited about the new facet to the festival and said the idea to include overhead live cameras focused on the chefs’ workspaces, with video screens for the audience, is an idea that is being tossed around for future competitions, so festival-goers can be more intimately involved in the extensive preparations.
“It was such a great surprise, when I saw this was going on today,” said Alex Sanceren of Milpitas. “I have never been to the festival before, but I’ve heard about it, didn’t know this was going to happen. I’m a bit of an amateur chef myself, so I was really excited to see this.”
Though there was only one first prize, judges agreed that chefs Devon Boisen, Justin Perez and Josiah Slone produced fabulous dishes.
“It was very tough,” amateur judge Gene Sakahara said of the judging. “They were so creative. Their sauces were so flavorful, exquisite, it was heavenly.”
Fellow amateur judges Sam Bozzo, Don Christopher, Karen LaCorte and Laura McIntosh were equally enthusiastic. Beyond the taste and artistic presentation, however, the judges had other criteria that were important.
“Chefs are truly artists,” McIntosh said. “I’m looking also, besides the obvious of taste and incorporation of garlic, at whether they have fun with it … I think a true chef puts love into the pot, and when you put love into the pot, there’s love in the dish.”
Baker’s love of cooking began at an early age, he said. Born and raised in Bristol, England, he graduated from culinary school in 1989 and worked in restaurants in England before moving to California in 1994, after he was honored with the Frank Hawley Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Culinary Arts.
He was hired as executive sous chef at the Rio Grill in Carmel when he arrived in California and spent four years there before being named executive chef at Montrio Bistro in 1998.
