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October 14, 2010 5:05 am

Peeking into a Midnight Chef Showdown (Silicon Valley, CA)

Plotting Mischief

It was a warm fall night when I suddenly received a message from Josiah of Sent Sovi on Twitter.

Josiah: Chef Showdown happening soon. You in?

Me: Where and when??

Josiah: Soon. Birk’s. Come now.

I closed the laptop and hopped into my car, and off I sped to Birk’s. How exciting! There are not many opportunities to partake in something so exciting!

The Setup

Chefs from around the South Bay Area were plentiful, but the competition was between 3 chefs.

Competitor 1. Executive Chef Josiah of Sent Sovi (Saratoga, CA)

Competitor 2. Executive Chef Chris of Cin-Cin (Los Gatos, CA)

Competitor 3. Chef Joey of Chez TJ (Mountain View, CA)

Judge: Executive Chef Maurice of Birks (Santa Clara, CA)

Here’s a quick video of the night’s showdown. Images of the results are below.

The Results of the Chef Showdown

Dish 1 was presented by Josiah. It was a “deconstructed ahi tuna sandwich” with thick chunks of ahi laying on top of crunchy buttery bread cut up into crouton-like shreds. All this buried grilled red cabbage spiced with korean hot sauce. Grilled avocado topped the dish off and a sprinkle of vibrant red tomatoes made this dish fun! This was a perfect rustic dish which brought energy into the room as it was served. As if the ingredients were dancing with each other.

Dish 2 was presented by Chris. It was sliced ribeye, done medium rare in a bed of spicy jalapeno “jus”. Gorgeous charred mushrooms marinated in the korean spicy sauce were skewered and balanced on top. A more refined approach to the competition, but still earthy. The depth of this dish was much more intense than Dish 1. If I had to picture this dish as one of my lovers, it would be the guitarist. One that strokes roughly at your senses. Deep and throaty hums between the chords with the refinement of perfect pitch.

Dish 3 was presented by Joey. You can tell by his technique that he is from Chez TJ. The presentation, simplicity and elegance of his plating style. Joey went for simple and straigtforward. He made a creamy parsnip, sunchoke, and tahini puree to lay below the perfectly seared new york steak, touched up the meat with a bit of freshness with the watercress accents, and gave the dish a flirtatious attitude with a wink of buttered sesame croutons.

Had enough yet?

An image recap of the night is below and tempting you further.