Raley's Grape Escape

Chef's Challenge

Presented by the Institute of Technology

Chef's Challange - Meet the Chefs

While sipping on your favorite varietal at the event, take in the always entertaining local chef cooking contest!

The Institute of Technology Culinary Academy is proud to present the Chef's Challenge at this year's event.

To showcase these sizzling restaurants, chefs from the capital region will compete for cash prizes. Each team, consisting of a chef and an assistant, is given 25 minutes to produce and serve up a dish from a basket of ingredients provided. Teams competed in two rounds, and winners advanced to the finals to prepare and serve another creative and mouth-watering dish in minutes.

This year's participating chefs include:

  • Ame Harrington from L Wine Lounge & Urban Kitchen
  • Noah Zonca The Kitchen Restaurant
  • Adam Pechal Tuli Bistro
  • Darrell Madeira Crush 29

Named by Restaurant News as the city whose "Restaurants Sizzle," Sacramento has evolved into a vibrant dining Mecca. Time magazine has also named Sacramento the most diverse city in America, which is reflected in the many flavors found in restaurants throughout the region.

Host

Mark S. Allen

Mark S. Allen is the entertainment anchor for "Good Day Sacramento," and with one glance at his TV resume, you'll see that he's no ordinary broadcast... though that might not be a good thing. He created and hosted "Dateless and Desperate" for the Emmy Award winning Nationally syndicated TV show "Scratch," and also hosted Comedy Central's Ace-Award winning variety show "Short Attention Span Theater." He made his first mark locally at KSFM 102.5, taking evening ratings to a historical high.

Judges

Don Dickinson CEC, CCA, ACE, AAC

Chef's Challenge Judges

Don Dickinson is the Culinary Division Director at the Institute of Technology's Culinary Arts Division campus in Roseville, California. He has 33 years of experience in the food service industry and is a Certified Executive Chef and Culinary Administrator and specializes in openings and charcuterie.

Patty Mastracco

Patty Mastracco has been the Food Editor for Raley's Something Extra magazine since 2005. She takes pride in creating reliable recipes that work so that even novice cooks can feel at ease in the kitchen. For her food is art, taste and celebration. She admits to a bias toward healthy, easy to prepare recipes, but her assignments have her handling all kinds of foods from coast to coast. She has fried chicken for Florence Henderson, popped popcorn for Orville Redenbacher, grilled pork for Guy Fieri, smashed avocadoes for an NFL quarterback, styled food and wine for golfer Greg Norman.

Rick Kushman

Rick Kushman is the Good Life columnist for The Sacramento Bee, writing about wine and food and life in the Sacramento region. He's also the author of the popular book, "A Moveable Thirst: Tales and Tastes from a Season in Nape Wine Country" and has written for publications ranging from Daily Variety to Sommelier Journal. Along with his column, he does a weekly morning radio spot for KFBK NewsTalk 1530, teaches cheeky wine classes, and conducts cheeky food and wine dinners - many for area charities. Rick believes that anyone who makes wine complicated or scary should be sentenced to drinking low-carb beer.