Westin Cape Coral hosts annual Masters of the Craft competition
Cape Coral was host to one of the area’s most anticipated annual culinary competitions last Tuesday, the Marriot International’s annual Masters of the Craft – a competition worthy of praise from the King of the Kitchen, Gordon Ramsey himself.
The competition was hosted by the Westin Cape Coral at Marina Village, where various talents from Westin’s own kitchen showcased their abilities during a two-tier challenge. The kicker: There was a secret ingredient in each segment of the competition – first being dragon fruit, and the second, prickly pear.
The eight competitors had a quick 30 minutes to gather their ingredients, which were bought fresh that morning, and whip up something prize-worthy for the judges. In addition, there was a drink-making competition as well, in which not all culinary competitors took part. Ingredients included fresh proteins such as chicken, shrimp, pork, steak, and salmon, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables, among other pantry staples.
In attendance were management officials from the Westin, competition judges, and others. Also in attendance were culinary students from Cape Coral High Tech, who were able to observe the art of culinary competition and grow their excitement for their craft while learning new methods and tricks.
The panel of three competition judges included well-known local Chef Matt Geiger of Savour Resteraunt in Fort Myers; Ricky Rambisoon, wine manager of Farmer Joes in Cape Coral; and Richard Bagdasarian of Cheney Brothers in Fort Myers.
“From a professional standpoint, I thought the food was great,” Geiger said of the overall competition. “I think that it’s hard to think under pressure, especially when you get minutes to shop and prep and all that. I do think there was some huge missed opportunities with ingredients here. Out of all eight contestants, we had four salmon dishes and two mahi dishes. I feel like there was other great stuff over there. There was shrimp, steak, pork, nobody used any of the herbs and very little spices. It was very weird.”
But in a good way, he added.
“I think everyone did super good,” he said. “The winner that was chosen was my favorite. Judging people is hard because you want to be fair, but this is a learning opportunity for them, too, so you don’t really want to crush their spirit or anything.”
When asked if he would do it again, he replied, “Oh yeah, this was fun.”
After all competitors poured their heart and creativity into each facet of the dishes they created, the panelists tasted each one, judging on a variety of factors. Ultimately, the Culinary winner was declared to be Zachary Urban, and the Beverage winner was declared to be Angela Frazier.
Tied for second place were Brooklyn Deleon and Paris Jenkins.
“I had a lot of fun today. It was a great competition,” said Urban of his experience and win.
Zachary’s winning dish consisted of salmon with a special sauce and vegetables.
“The ingredient was prickly pear. I made salmon with a sub-tropic, Latin flavor profile with the seasoning and the sauce I made,” he said. “I reduced my prickly pear into a sauce, and separated all of the solid fruit from that and turned it into a pear relish to go with the salmon, served over a semi-mashed potato with pan-roasted carrots. I’m happy with my presentation and the overall flavor profile. I just had so much fun actually getting to compete, and that’s the most fun part for me.”
Frazier’s winning drink consisted of a dragonfruit base, which was her mystery ingredient, and it was crafted into a tall full flavor frozen cocktail worthy of first prize.
“We’re very excited to have a second year runner up that came in first place this year that is going to continue on with the culinary legacy and journey, and continue growing with Marriott,” said Executive Chef Victoria Wenning of Urban. “We’re just very excited.”
Everyone had a great time showing off their skills, and the friendly competition was fun for all.
Next, Urban and Frazier proceed to the next level of competition to showcase their skills at the regional competition. From there, the winners proceed to nationals.