Local chefs recap Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off

The state’s top chefs took to the kitchen last Saturday at the seventh annual Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off, eyeing the title of King of Louisiana Seafood. The event was held as part of the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience (NOWFE). While three Baton Rouge chefs competed, New Orleans chef Aaron Burgau of Patois took home the 2014 prize thanks to his dish of crawfish and pappardelle pasta with ramp greens purée and uni butter. Along with the crown, Burgau will also represent the state’s seafood industry at events throughout the year.

Crescent City chefs dominated the contest. Chef Chris Montero of Café B came in second with his Gulf wild red snapper. Chef Chip Flanagan of Ralph’s on the Park took third with his cobia with crawfish tails, sweet pea succotash and crawfish Nantua sauce.

All wasn’t lost for Capital City chefs Scott Varnedoe of Restaurant IPO and David Dickensauge of Bin 77, who all received praise at the event.

Last weekend was Varnedoe’s second time competing in the cook-off. He brought a crawfish-boiled gnocchi with crawfish corn Velouté sauce, topped with filé and pecan-crusted Des Almonds catfish. The dish also featured crawfish-boiled popcorn and pickled ruby celery.

“I thought the dish would do well,” he says. “I always want to win. It was a good experience, though, serving 1,200 people. I knew I had to deliver, and I didn’t want to simplify my ingredients.”

Judges at NOWFE saw Varnedoe’s passion and awarded him with gold and silver medals for dishes he served during the festival’s Grand Tasting events. His sea scallop and wild mushroom bisque with an edible garden took home gold, and his pappardelle pasta with foie gras, duck confit and sweetbreads tossed in a truffle Merlot blue cheese crčme with collard green pesto and candied tomato won silver.

Varnedoe also says he was filmed as part of an upcoming Food Network show, the details of which have yet to be released.

Dickensauge served fresh flounder stuffed with jumbo lump crabmeat alongside succotash and a wild squash blossom. It was a dish he had been preparing in his mind for months but executed for the first time last weekend. He says he got excellent constructive criticism from cook-off judge and New Orleans chef Susan Spicer.

“She said my dish was the most complex,” he says. “[She said] it was something you would eat at a restaurant, something you expect to spend a lot of money on. One thing she told me I needed to learn was how to compete and make things simpler.”

He says he’s already been asked to compete next year and is looking forward to bringing his flavors back to the cook-off in 2015

“I don’t know all the components quite yet,” he says. “But I know what I’m going to do.”

Chef Ryan Andre of Le Creolé also competed at the cook-off but was unavailable for comment.