BR chef shines at NOWFE – Sclafani brings accolades to Capital City cuisine

A few days before Ruffino’s Executive Chef Peter Sclafani headed to the May 22-26 New Orleans Food and Wine Experience to compete in its annual chefs competition, he mentioned something I’ve heard recently from other Baton Rouge chefs: despite their hard work, talent and accomplishments, Capital City restaurants still get short shrift in the national and statewide culinary media, which focuses more on New Orleans, and now, Lafayette. The Gateway to Cajun Country was recently named No. 1 in “Best of Food” in Rand McNally’s “Best of the Road” competition and was included in the top 10 food cities in the South in Southern Living‘s January 2012 issue.

Those cities deserve their accolades, but the situation still leaves Sclafani scratching his head.

“There is so much talent in Baton Rouge, but our food culture constantly gets overshadowed,” he said. “I don’t understand it because chefs here are really working hard and doing great things.”

It was a prophetic comment, because Sclafani ended up coming home with gold medals in two of four categories in NOWFE’s Fleur de Lis Culinary Awards, a field dominated by Crescent City talent.

In the Meat & Poultry category, Sclafani won with his version of braised pork cheek, an item he’s hoping local diners will come to explore and embrace. New Orleans Chef Mark Quitney of Marriott 5 Fifty 5 also won a gold in this category with his Turducken with Abita, served with braised greens and satsuma glaze. In the Lagniappe category, Sclafani secured the only gold with burrata stuffed with foie gras mousse, accompanied by balsamic caviar and tomato chip.

Elsewhere at NOWFE, ten chefs from Louisiana competed for the “King of Louisiana Seafood” title including Juban’s Executive Chef Jaime Hernandez and Stroube’s Seafood and Steaks Executive Chef Scott Varnedoe. Top honors went to Chef Keith Frentz of Lola in Covington for his “Friday Lunch Special,” cornmeal-dusted wild Des Allemands catfish, red bean and crawfish succotash, braised collards and house-made tartar sauce.

Maggie Heyn Richardson is a freelance journalist and covers food for 225 and quality of life for Business Report. Her work has appeared in Eating Well Magazine and on the national public radio program, On Point. She has appeared on the Cooking Channel and is currently working on a book about Louisiana foodways. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @mhrwriter