Jason Gronlund became emotional when he was crowned champion for the third year in a row of the Gilroy Garlic Festival’s Garlic Showdown July 27, as he announced he will dedicate the victory to two friends who died since last year’s competition, and who were pillars of the annual three-day celebration of garlic.
At the end of Sunday’s Showdown at the festival’s main stage, Gronlund told the audience through tears that he will donate his $5,000 grand prize to the Garlic Festival organization to create a memorial to Jay Minzer and Peter Ciccarelli.
Minzer, who was Gronlund’s sous-chef in the 2013 Showdown competition, died in January. Ciccarelli, a long-time volunteer who led public relations and marketing efforts for the Garlic Festival since 1997, died in 2013.
Gronlund, the Vice President of Culinary for Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill in Orlando, Fla., won Sunday’s Showdown by wowing the five local judges with a rack of lamb with cole slaw and a ceviche with garlic caviar, all incorporating two surprise ingredients—Chioggia beets and canned corn—around which the annual festival competition centers.
The Garlic Showdown is an “Iron Chef” style cooking competition in which four professional chefs—with the aid of their sous-chefs—are given one hour to produce at least two dishes incorporating the “secret ingredients,” which are announced just seconds before the clock starts.
Each competitor’s concoctions are judged by the five-judge panel based on creativity, use of the secret ingredients, presentation and “of course, garlic,” Garlic Festival Past President Dennis Harrigan explained to the audience.
Harrigan co-hosted the competition with Carla Hall, the popular host of the Food Network program “The Chew.”
This year’s contest featured two secret ingredients: Chioggia beets and canned corn. Chefs were also permitted use of the stage’s pantry, and any specialty ingredients they chose to bring as long as they shared with their competitors.
Hall told the audience, who crowded most of the seats in the festival’s main arena which also featured Saturday’s Great Garlic Cook-off and demonstrations throughout the festival, that Chioggia beets are not always found in typical grocery stores, and feature a sweeter flavor and different texture than common beets.
Gronlund’s sous-chef Eric Ferrell told the audience at one point during the competition, Chioggia beets display a “nice marbling color” when cut in half.
Also competing in the Garlic Showdown Sunday were Gilroy resident and professional private chef Johnathan Toste, with sous-chef Billy Ashford; Adam Sanchez, owner of The Milia’s restaurant in Gilroy, with sous-chef Ann Zyburra; and recent Culinary Institute of America graduate with top honors Kristiana Perini, with sous-chef Casey Engleman.
Hall was a crowd favorite, wandering the stage with Harrigan, telling stories and projecting her microphone into competitors’ work spaces to solicit impromptu interviews mid-contest and comment on their techniques. “Roasted, pureed, raw, grilled—look at all the ways” they’re preparing Chioggia beets, Hall said.
While chefs vigorously stirred sauces and diced garlic and grilled thin slices of beets before the one-hour clock was up, Hall tossed bulbs of Christopher Ranch garlic to select audience members and posed for photographs and signed autographs.
“She’s so much fun, and really down to earth,” said Brandy Bayuga of Gilroy. Bayuga, a stylist at Image and Design salon in Gilroy, did Hall’s hair and makeup while the Food Network star was in town.
Bayuga’s colleague Lori Berry, salon manager at Image and Design, offered that she attended the Showdown to cheer on Sanchez and Zyburra, who run the popular downtown Gilroy restaurant The Milia’s.
“I like how they really allow the chefs to show off their skills” at the Showdown, Berry said.
Kathryn Low, of Menlo Park, visited the Garlic Festival for the first time with her daughter Sunday. The two sat back and enjoyed the Garlic Showdown for the duration of the show, which lasted about 2.5 hours including introductions and final dish presentations.
“I love cooking shows, so this is a bonus to see something like this,” Low said. She was also impressed with the cuisine available on the festival grounds she had sampled so far—garlic fries, pasta con pesto, mussels, and even garlic ice cream.
Also in the audience was chef Toste’s mother, Candy Elzey, whose eyes were glued to the stage while her son was cooking. Toste, 31, former sous-chef at now-closed Lizarron restaurant in downtown Gilroy, has been cooking at home since before he was a teenager. But Sunday’s Showdown was his first competition.
“His sauces are amazing—and his presentation,” Elzey said.
Showdown judge Gloria Melone, wife of Garlic Festival co-founder Rudy Melone, said she was “flabbergasted” by the flavor and presentation of all four chefs’ creations.
As the 2014 winner of the Garlic Showdown, Gronlund not only continues a coveted winning streak. His donation of the winnings back to the festival also continues a practice of giving back to the community.
In 2012, he donated his Showdown winnings to the Alzheimer’s Association. Last year, he gave his $5,000 prize to the American Cancer Society.
“I want to donate the money back to the festival to build a memorial (in Christmas Hill Park) to build a memorial to Peter and Jay,” Gronlund told the audience Sunday after the judges crowned him Showdown champion again.
