Gold Medal Plates

[Shellfish Sam]

The Vancouver Gold Medal Plates are taking place at the Bayshore Westin on November 14th.

The lineup is impressive and the food should be spectacular.

Who do you think stands the best chance of winning it?

The only person I really don't wish to hear from is Andrew Morrison as he is a judge in this event and it would not be "kosher" for him to speculate who the winner will be.

[barolo]

A little more information about the event, like who is competing, would increase replies I think.

Here's a link

Here's a list of competitors and judges:

Robert Belcham - Fuel

Melissa Craig - Bearfoot Bistro, Whistler

Kevin Doucette - The Westin Bayshore

David Hawksworth - West

Scott Jaeger - The Pear Tree

Jay Lynn - Hilton Whistler Resort

Lee Parsons - Wedgewood

Pino Posteraro - Cioppino's

Nico Schuermans - Chambar

Stefan Pimenta - Le Gavroche

Javier Alarco - Hyatt Regency Vancouver

Rob Feenie - Lumiere

Judges:

Andrew Morrison - Urban Diner, Eat Magazine

Sid Cross, Joan Cross, Vicki Gabereau - TV/Radio Host

Robert Clark - C (Gold Medal Plates '06 Winner)

[Andrew Morrison]

The only person I really don't wish to hear from is Andrew Morrison as he is a judge in this event and it would not be "kosher" for him to speculate who the winner will be.

←

damn.

[eatrustic]

So, unless I'm missing something, last night was the Gold Medal Plates and still no word as to who won. Even despite Dale MacKay's mysterious withdrawal I would have thought there would be a couple of posts with the outcome.

Perhaps the judges are still deliberating while popping Pepto Bismal?

[Andrew Morrison]

Sorry, folks have been talking about it on the "other" forum...

1st place | Pino Posteraro of Cioppino's

2nd place | Melissa Craig of the Bearfoot Bistro

3rd place | Scott Jaeger of The Pear Tree

I should have a video compilation up later today.

[Oyster Guy]

Sorry, folks have been talking about it on the "other" forum...

1st place | Pino Posteraro of Cioppino's

2nd place | Melissa Craig of the Bearfoot Bistro

3rd place | Scott Jaeger of The Pear Tree

I should have a video compilation up later today.

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Looks like we didn't play "second fiddle" to Araxi's on this one.

Too bad, you didn't have the stones to come and introduce yourself last night.

But it's so easy to hide behind your computer..........

[Andrew Morrison]

^ It sounds like I really should have! I introduced myself to your chef and enjoyed her dish tremendously. I'm sorry if I missed the pleasure...odd person.

Here's more from James Chatto...

November 14 saw the 2007 Vancouver leg of the Gold Medal Plates campaign soar into history at the luxe Westin Bayshore hotel. The buzz in the room from the sold-out crowd was palpable and the welcome given to our speaker, triathlete Simon Whitfield rocked the ceiling. As did Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo who was easily coaxed into an encore before the national anthem. Appropriately, the calibre and passion of the cooking from every competitor in the first half of the evening set a new standard for this campaign.

Taking the bronze medal (by a difference of less than one percentage point over David Hawksworth of West) was Chef Scott Jaeger of The Pear Tree. Poised over a stripe of celeriac purée, his little slab of B.C. Berkshire pork belly was impeccably textured, so tender it parted at the touch of a fork. The sweet flavour of the meat was beautifully enhanced by a miniature puck of cipollini onion jelly and a tiny crunchy tube of pastry filled with pear butter. The accompanying wine, cutting valiantly through the fat, was Inniskillin’s 2004 Malbec from the Okanagan.

The silver medal also went to an out-of-town chef – Melissa Craig from Barefoot Bistro in Whistler. Her presentation was exceptionally refined – four dainty treasures from the sea set out on a small wooden block. Here was a Cortez Island Black Pearl oyster – one of a new breed of East Coast oyster being farmed in the Pacific – dressed with a pickled daikon and cucumber mignonette that tasted intensely of cucumber and had a lovely sweetness to contrast with the oyster. A stiff mousse of B.C. spot prawn was cut into a tiny drum wrapped in a membrane of sesame jelly and topped with what looked like caviar but turned out to be a molecular doppelganger of miso and squid ink. Albacore tuna sashimi was dressed with a yuzu bonito mayonnaise and topped with soy-flavourd “pop rocks”. A crunchy cone of cured wild salmon was dressed with horseradish cream. The matching wine, a 2005 Riesling from Tantalus Vineyards, was perfectly chosen, its acidity and intensity of flavour dovetailing with the many tastes on the plate.

The gold medal for our Vancouver event this year was awarded to Chef Pino Posteraro of Cioppino’s. The banner above his station described the dish simply as a “porcini mushroom and chestnut soup” – and indeed it was, served in a coffee cup like some kind of cappuccino. But the texure was profoundly enriched and the layers of mushroom flavour were dramatically deepened by melted foie gras and a scattering of crunchy truffled brioche croutons. In a ceramic spoon set on the saucer of the “coffee cup” was the other element of the dish – a square of chilled mushroom jelly and a roasted mushroom salad served at room temperature, the supple textures and contrasting temperatures working beautifully in the mouth. The judges were unanimous in awarding the dish maximum “wow factor”. As an accompanying wine, Posteraro chose a Niagara Chardonnay that proved an inspired match – Pillitteri Estates Winery Chardonnay Sur Lie 2006.

Chef Posteraro will now be competing in the Canadian Culinary Championship, our gruelling three-day finale to the competition, to be held in Toronto from February 7 to 10, 2008. So far his opposition consists of Anthony Walsh of Canoe in Toronto , Martin Ruiz Salvador of Fleur de Sel in Lunenberg, and Roland Ménard of Manoir Hovey representing Montreal. Tonight we do it all again in Calgary !

James Chatto

National Culinary Advisor

Gold Medal Plates

[C Simril]

The mushroom soup was my favourite. I told the chef I'd have to go to his restaurant to try more of his creations. People who asked my opinions, I sent over to his station and they reported back their delight with his soup. Just as good was the vanilla infused scallop inbetween some fatty pork (so much of the meat served was largely fat, made me wonder if the purpose of the feast was to fatten up dangerously skinny athletes) I think it was one of the Whistler hotels that featured it, but I had to dig it out, not the featured flavour of the "dish." Overall, I was not impressed. Westy got third? I can't believe it. I had his sous vide pheasent for dinner the previous night (and lunch before the Gold Plates event) so I know he can cook, although I was in the restaurant mostly to celebrate my cousin the bar tender's victory that night as the nation's best mixologist. West's contribution to last night's event was forgettable while still in my mouth. A lot of the food was awful. The elk and the salmon both tested the gag reflex. All in all, it just wasn't comfortable to be holding wine (poorly paired more often than not) in one hand, a plate of only occasionally edible food in the other and trying to find a place to eat and "appreciate" the dishes.

[eatrustic]

Good for Pino, he may not be the most media friendly dude but he has the talent and nothing helps the sales of a new cookbook like a big win against other chefs.

Anyone have a blow by blow of all the dishes?

[Andrew Morrison]

I'll have a video blog up on UD within the hour...

[Andrew Morrison]

Here you go.