Chef Nathin Bye of Wildflower Grill proved his culinary prowess when he took home the gold medal for the second time at Edmonton’s 2012 Gold Medal Plates competition. Chef Bye went head-to-head with ten of the finest culinary masters at this prestigious culinary competition, held at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton on October 18, 2012. He will now go on to compete at the Canadian Culinary Championships, the Gold Medal Plates Finale, held in Kelowna on February 8 and 9, 2013.
To secure the win, Chef Bye wowed the judges with ‘Breakfast for Dinner’ – A Noble Tonic 01 Maple & Triple Smoked Bacon Panna Cotta; Sunny Side Up Quail Egg & Omega Egg Floss Brioche Toast & Spiced Carrot Puree; Wild Chanterelle “Pop Tart” & Blackberry Grapefruit Bircher Muesli. The paired wine, which also received Best of Show by the wine judges led by National Wine Advisor, David Lawrason was Tantalus Chardonnay 2010 from Okanagan, British Columbia.
“It was a challenging and exciting competition and I am very honoured that that the Gold Medal Plates judges chose my dish as the best,” said Nathin, Chef of Wildflower Grill. “My team and I worked very hard to make our dish the best it could be, and I’m thrilled our efforts resulted in the gold. Now, I am looking forward to taking this to the next step, and competing for the national title again!”
Chef Shane Chartrand of Murrieta’s Westcoast Grill, rose to the occasion as well, taking the silver medal. Chef Chartrand created a “Noir et Blanc” Sablefish with cod tongue and crab bisque, 3 onion “Ash”, verjus spritz, chilled black radish parsley boucher linen smoked sea salt. The paired wine was Lake Breeze Pinot Blanc 2011 VQA, Namarata, British Columbia
Taking the bronze medal was Chef Paul Shufelt of Century Hospitality Group. His dish was “Brome Lake Duelling Duck” – Proscuitto wrapped Brome Lake duck breast, crispy laquered duck skin, roasted butternut squash puree, duck confit and forest mushroom arancini. The paired wine was Quails’ Gate Old Vines Foch 2010, 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 entertained by Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies, Juno nominee Sarah Harmer and legend Barney Bentall. “We have some of the best athletes in the world right here in Canada. We proved in Vancouver with Own the Podium that when Canadians join together to better support our athletes great things happen,” said Dave Majeski, Chair Gold Model Plates Edmonton 2012. “Edmonton has a strong tradition of embracing great causes and the outstanding show of support for this event clearly demonstrates that.”
The 2012 Gold Medal Plates Competition
Gold Medal Plates is the ultimate celebration of Canadian Excellence in cuisine, wine, entertainment and athletic achievement. Celebrating in ten cities across Canada in 2012, Gold Medal Plates features superb Canadian wines, premier chefs and Canadian Olympic athletes, in a competition to crown a gold, silver and bronze medal culinary team in each city, and subsequently nation-wide. Since 2004, this event has received tremendous support and accolades all across Canada, and generated a combined net total of over $6 million for Canada’s Olympic athletes! For more information, visit the Gold Medal Plates website www.goldmedalplates.com.
