The first thing that I want to say is, I love this event! The hardest part for me to convey to somebody that’s never been, is just how cool it is. It’s not just another foodie event. This is a production. The Viejas team builds stages, they bring sound, lighting, flat screens, a huge projector screen, etc., and Dacor brings two cooking lines. Two teams of five chefs compete with some crazy challenge ingredients to create as one judge put it, “The best dinner of the year.”

This years challenge ingredients were Monkfish, King Crab, Geoduck Clams, Flatiron Steak, and Pom pomegranete juice. Each team had one hour to create 5 different dishes using all of the ingredients at least once. Amy Dibiases’ team took it this year to beat out Paul McCabes 4 year winning streak! Not only do guests get to watch a great show, they get to eat fantastic food by some of the cities best restaurants (not to mention some excellent cocktail selections), they got Sam The Cooking Guy and Chef Bernard Guilles as the entertaining MC’s, and the best part is that the food community comes together to help a great cause via the Center for Community Solutions, or CCS.

If you weren’t able to attend this year, make a note to self that you need to go in 2010!

Marcela Valladolid, author of Fresh Mexico, was invited to hang out with me at Cantina for a book signing event put on by Warwick’s La Jolla. It was a packed house as people traveled from north and south of the border to hear Marcela talk about her approach on what Mexican food really is. This was such a unique event in that while Chef Marcela was entertaining in the dining room, the crew and I were in the kitchen putting together dishes from Marcela’s cook book. Marcela herself said that the food tasted just how she meant for it to be, so we were all happy on how it turned out!

Click here if you would like to know more about Marcela Valladolid.

Click here if you would like to purchase her book.