Bocuse d’Or USA concluded last weekend in Orlando, Florida with pretty much every top toque in the American/French food world being present. After years of being creamed by foreign teams, the U.S. of A. decided to get serious this year with its competition — in order to field the strongest two-person team it could for the international cooking contest to be held in Lyon, France in January ’09.
Photos by Valeria Rispoli
FYI: ELV was in Lyon for the ’07 throw down, and can relate that it resembles a 2-day, multi-team, Iron Chef episode mixed with the atmosphere of a European soccer match. In other words, the Bocuse d’Or is a hoot and a half, and something that needs to be seen to be believed. ELV, and the staff at ELV, plans on attending on January 27th and 28th as well.
One of the ways America decided to bolster its chances this year was by getting uber-chefs Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud involved with this year’s production and judging. Having such luminaries as Andre Soltner, Alain Sailhac, Patrick O’Connell and Jean-Georges Vongerichten involved didn’t hurt either. Even Laurent Tourondel — an Official Friend of ELV — was one of the judges, along with Traci des Jardins, Georges Perrier and Daniel Humm, giving the judging panel Murderer’s Row of cooking talent that must have unnerved more than a few of the competitors.
The team of Timothy Hollingsworth and Adina Guest (from the French Laundry) will be representing Amerika in France, in January. They beat, among others, the team of Michael Rotondo and Jennifer Petrusky from our very own Restaurant Charlie and one headed by Hung Hunyh, formerly of Guy Savoy and Top Chef fame…..althought Hunyh won best seafood honors, and Rotondo won the Most Promising Young Chef award.
ELV will be cheering Hollingsworth on in January, as he did Gavin Kaysen in ’07. At that competition, the American cheering section was an embarassment….with maybe a dozen folks in it — compared to hundreds for the other teams — ranging from China to Belgium to Japan to South Africa. Even in this Depression, we hope that more than a few Americans will make it to Lyon to do likewise.
FYI: In ’07 the French team won. No surprise there….Hear all about it here.
Like you say that it was no surprise that France won in ’07, I don’t think it was a surprise that Hollingsworth (from French Laundry) won the US title – since he is the chef at the US benefactors restaurant. Doesn’t mean he isn’t good, just saying……
Good point….BUT Keller wasn’t a judge, just a host and benefactor.
Thanks for the post!
I ate at the French Laundry on Thursday night and had the privilege (as all TFL diners do), of getting to see the kitchen and meet Hollingsworth (sort of…he was a little busy expediting). The guy can certainly cook. The waiter wasn’t afraid to mention the recent victory, either. On Friday I ate at the Dining Room in San Francisco, which is not a two-bit establishment. Ron Siegel’s team put together a solid tasting menu, but it didn’t match up to Hollingsworth’s precision.