Rumble In The Rockies

East versus West – Chefs Challenge Event

Everyone was a winner at our chefs challenge event on Sunday, April 29th at The Riverside. The weather was warm and sunny. Our Eastern and Western cuisine teams, each comprised of three top local chefs, showed competitive spirit while facing off. The hustle while prepping, sauteeing, grilling, and making rice noodles from scratch was palpable. Chef Ryan Gorby of Cho77 and Chef Kyle Mendenhall of Arcana, respectively head chefs of the East and West teams, were involved in everything and provided strong direction. With the help of six culinary students from the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, the chefs did what they do best: create beautiful dishes. Though both teams produced delicious dishes, the audience and judges both agreed that the East team was the winner of our live chefs challenge.

• East team: Ryan Gorby; Jeff Stoneking, Chef de Cuisine of ChoLon; and Thach Tran, Executive Chef of Ace Eat Serve
• West team: Kyle Mendenhall; Steve Redzikowski of Acorn, Brider, and OAK at Fourteenth; and Thomas Vigil, former sous chef of Black Cat
• Judges: 5280 Magazine food editor Denise Mickelsen, Executive Chef Kelly Jeun of Frasca Food and Wine, and Sara Brito of the Good Food 100 Restaurants list
• Emcee: Emcee Theo Adley, Executive Chef of The Populist