Chef Duncan Ly Takes Top Honours at Calgary's Gold Medal Plates Competition
CALGARY, Nov. 18 /CNW/ - Chef Duncan Ly of Hotel Arts Raw Bar proved his culinary prowess last Friday night when he took home the gold award at Calgary's 2010 Gold Medal Plates competition. Chef Duncan Ly went head-to-head with ten of the finest culinary masters at this prestigious culinary competition, held at the Hyatt Regency in Calgary on November 12, 2010. He will compete at the Canadian Culinary Championships, the Gold Medal Plates Finale, held in Kelowna Feb. 18th and 19th.
To secure the win, Duncan, by a unanimous decision by the judges, wowed the judges with his "Braised Beef Cheek and Sour Cherry Beignet with Wild Salmon Gravlax, Confit Tomato Viniagrette". The paired wine was Tantalus Vineyard's Pinot Noir 2008 from the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.
"It was a tough competition and very challenging. I am very honoured that the Gold Medal Plates judges chose my dish as the best amoung a group of very talented chef's," said Duncan Ly, Chef of Hotel Arts Raw Bar. "My team and I worked very hard and after winning two silver and a bonze medal, I hoped this would be my year. I'm thrilled our efforts resulted in the gold. Now, I am looking forward to taking this to the next level, and competing to be the best chef in Canada!"
Chef Shaun Desaulniers of Belgo rose to the occasion as well, taking the silver medal. Chef Desaulniers created Butter & Maple Poached Nagano Pork with St. Andre Gratin and "Macintosh" Frites. The paired wine was a Noble Ridge Pinot Noir 2007 from the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.
Taking the bronze medal was a new competitor Justin Leboe of Model Milk. His dish was a sustainable fisheries steelhead trout, with vegetable ash, saffron potato cream, salad of crispy vegetables, smoked steelhead crackling. The paired wine was a Laughing Stock Chardonnay 2009 from the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.
The guests were not only treated to the finest in food, they also had the opportunity to mingle with celebrated Olympians and Paralympians including keynote speaker and Vancouver 2010 Olympic hero, Alexandre Bilodeau who was inspiring and captivating in his hot stove interview with Olympic medalist Mark Tewksbury as he allowed the guests to relive his gold medal moment so a standing ovation - full of cheers and a few tears. Jim Cuddy, Colin James and Anne Lindsay musical stylings brought the house down!
The event had a sold out audience of over 585 guests in attendance and over $200,000 was raised in the live auction alone. Jim Cuddy charmed the audience which resulted in two Under the Tuscan Sun trips being sold for $16,000 each where Jim along with Barney Bentall and fiddler Anne Lindsay will perform a concert under the stars and guests will have a chance to cycle with Olympians Marnie McBean, Curt Harnett, Chandra Crawford and Devon Kershaw!
The 2010 Gold Medal Plates Competition
Gold Medal Plates is the ultimate celebration of Canadian Excellence in cuisine, wine, entertainment and athletic achievement. Celebrating in eight cities across Canada in 2010, Gold Medal Plates will feature superb wines and the premier chefs in each city, paired with Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes, in a competition to crown a gold, silver and bronze medal culinary team in each city, and subsequently nation-wide. Founded in 2003, the goal of Gold Medal Plates is to raise substantial funds for Canada's high performance athletes, while celebrating Canadian excellence. Since 2004, this event has received tremendous support and accolades all across Canada, and generated a combined net total of $4.1 million for Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes! For more information, visit the Gold Medal Plates website www.goldmedalplates.com.
Canadian Olympic Foundation - The Beneficiary of the events: Net proceeds from Gold Medal Plates are given to the Canadian Olympic Foundation to support high performance programs such as Own the Podium. To learn more about the Foundation and the programs it funds, please visit www.olympicfoundation.ca.
For further information:
Tracy Aylesworth at [email protected] or 403-984-9048
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