Fund Raiser For Long Beach Symphony

Sunday. March 1, 2015

Freidman's Appliance Center in Signal Hill was the venue for the Third Annual Chef's Challenge which is a fund raiser for the Long Beach Symphony. 5 chefs from the area competed for the "Silver Skillet".

Upon entering the store you poured yourself a glass of wine from a 4 bottle wine dispenser then proceeded to tour the store where 5 chef's stations were set up in the kitchen display area. They used the display stoves and appliances.  There were also set up a coffee bar, dessert bar,  beer bar, martini bar and  two tables with bubbly and wines. A 3 piece music group played in the bath display area (Jazz and Bathz).

All the chefs were setting out appetizers for us to nibble on while we wandered and watched everyone cook their dishes to be judged. Two of them really blew me away. The bacon wrapped shrimp from Keesal, Young and Logan and the Empanadas, (pork,beef, chorizo combined) from Legends. Delius put of their avocado, garlic and grape spread (which is so good) on crostini.

They also had waitstaff passing around appetizers, at least 6 different kinds. So between appetizers and 6 glasses of bubbly I was in a fine mood.

All the dishes cooked for the judges were pork tenderloin with a theme. They were given a secret ingredient. peanut butter or almond butter after arriving at the venue that they had to incorporate into their dish.

Louise Solzman from Delius Restaurant won the chefs challenge this year. The theme she was given was Caribbean. Her pork had jerk seasoning and she incorporated the almond butter into her mashed potatoes.

Looking forward to seeing her "Silver Skillet" dispkayed at the restaurant.