In what the judges called a “photo finish” face-off, Chef Lizardo Becerra of Ottawa’s Raphaël Peruvian Cuisine wowed the crowd and took home the win at the regional qualifiers for the Canadian Culinary Championships Thursday night.
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In what the judges called a “photo finish” faceoff, Chef Lizardo Becerra of Ottawa’s Raphaël Peruvian Cuisine wowed the crowd and took home the win at the regional qualifiers for the Canadian Culinary Championships Wednesday night.
It was a high-pressure evening for the six Ottawa chefs who went head-to-head at Canada's Great Kitchen Party, the second of 10 qualifying competitions for the championship set to take place across the country over the next several weeks.
Accompanied by their teams, each chef prepared a multi-faceted dish for the more than 100 guests in attendance to sample and critique, all while sipping their chosen beverage pairing.
Head judge Cory Haskins said it wasn’t easy to pick a winner.
“The dishes that we tasted tonight, the level of them was really, really high,” said Haskins, former chef and academic chair at Algonquin College for Culinary Arts. “We went on a sort of trip around the world. It was just an amazing level of competition.”
It’s a challenging environment for any chef, according to Haskins. He said each one had to find ways to quickly and consistently present a high-quality product throughout the evening as guests visited each station around the Chateau Laurier ballroom, where the event was hosted.
Temperature and texture are key concerns for any dish, he said. The chef’s job was to find a way to maintain both.
In addition to Becerra, the competitors included Patrick Garland (Absinthe), Kristine Hartling (Oz Kafe), Mitch Lacombe (Gitanes), Jason Sawision (Stofa Restaurant) and Sarath Mohan Teegavarapu (Kathā).
Sawision was the recipient of the People’s Choice Award, as voted by the evening’s attendees, for his smoked pork hock and confit chicken pressé, with miso-koji bagna cauda, potato roulade, crispy bacon, hazelnuts, spiced poached apples, onion and chanterelle mushroom “jam”, potato tuile, aerated brown butter hollandaise, dill and chervil.
According to Haskins, the chefs represent the best of the city’s culinary scene, which he said has reached a new level in recent years.
“Ottawa has an extremely vibrant, chef-driven community, with a large number of small restaurants that are focused on creating exceptional food,” he told OBJ. “Everyone that came here tonight to compete demonstrates everything that we have in this city. We are extremely lucky.”
Ultimately, it was the Peruvian flavours of Becerra’s Gitanyow sockeye salmon that came out on top.
“As soon as we knew about the history of Gitanyow sockeye salmon from B.C., owned by a First Nations Indigenous fishery, we found so many similarities with Peruvian communities and Indigenous cultures,” Becerra said. “We realize that we fight for the same thing. We have the same struggles. We clicked so much with the product and then we started enhancing it with Peruvian flavours and spices and family recipes to create the dish for today.”
Becerra’s recipe brought those cultural flavours to life by incorporating almond sweet potato velvet, escabeche demi-glace, ají limo spheres, botija olive powder, popped kiwicha, ají panca rice crackers and micro cilantro.
He paired the dish with a Charles Baker 2022 B-Side Riesling from Niagara-on-the-Lake.
He said his win is a proud moment for him and his team.
“I’ve known (my team) for so long. Most of them have not even (been) a year in Canada,” he said. “They came from Peru for this journey when we opened up on Elgin Street. So they’re so pumped and so happy to be able to participate in one of the important competitions in Canada.”
As the evening’s winner, Becerra moves on to the Canadian Culinary Championships, a three-part competition that will be hosted in Ottawa at the end of January 2025.
It’s the kind of achievement that can transform a chef’s life, according to Lisa Pasin, senior vice-president of Canada's Great Kitchen Party.
“It can be an absolute career-changer,” she told OBJ. “We know that even if they win gold at their regional level, they’re booked up. I can tell you (one former competitor), you couldn’t get a reservation in her restaurant for eight months to a year. We had one chef who won and got offered to open a restaurant in Beijing. Incredible opportunities open for these chefs that win at this level.”
The competition also raised money for the sports organization Spirit North, music education charity MusiCounts, and the Ottawa Network for Education’s school breakfast program.
According to Pasin, the next level of the competition, the Canadian championships, is among the most difficult events a chef could take part in.
“It’s a whole other level,” she said. “Anyone who’s competed in it before has said it’s the toughest competition they’ve ever been in and these are chefs that have won Iron Chef. They’ve been on all kinds of TV shows. The finale is the crowning of the best chef in Canada.”
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Stofa Restaurant's Jason Sawison (left) received silver, Lizardo Becerra of Raphaël Peruvian Cuisine received gold and Mitch Lacombe of Gitanes received bronze. (Photo by Mia Jensen) -
Jason Sawision (left) of Stofa Restaurant awarded the "People's Choice Award" by Lisa Pasin. (Photo by Mia Jensen) -
Jason Sawision of Stofa Restaurant, prepares his "People's Choice" winning dish: Smoked pork hock and confit chicken with miso-koji bagna cauda, potato roulade, crispy bacon, hazelnuts, spiced poached apples, onion and chanterelle mushroom "jam," potato tuille, aerated brown butter hollandaise, dill and chervil. (Photo by Mia Jensen) -
Kristine Hartling of Oz Kafe plates her dish: Black pepper molasses mushroom brochette with grilled king oyster mushrooms, stewed navy beans, cherry tomato, Johnny cake crisp, red pepper relish, and scarlet kale. (Photo by Mia Jensen) -
Kathā's Sarath Mohan Teegavarapu puts the finishing touches on his dish: Miso, turmeric and saffron sothi with branzino, fennel salad and fish road. (Photo by Mia Jensen) -
Mitch Lacombe of Gitanes prepares his dish: whole mariposa duck a l'orange, dry aged duck breast with szechuan and lavender, potate pave layered with duck leg rillette, foie gras mousse with kumquat marmalade, duck skin crumble, orange agrodolce sauce, morel mushrooms and shiso. (Photo by Mia Jensen) -
Patrick Garland of Absinthe working on his dish: Seared Îles-de-la-Madeleine scallop with cauliflower basil purée, Lesqueti mussel fumet, légumes à la grecque/Fun Stuff. (Photo by Mia Jensen) -
Raphaël Peruvian Cuisine's Lizardo Becerra supervises the creation of his winning dish: Gitanyow sockeye salmon with almond sweet potato velvet, escabeche demi-glace, ají limo spheres, botija olive powder, popped kiwicha, ají panca rice crackers and micro cilantro. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
