Gilroy Garlic Festival Sets Showdown Field With 4 Prominent NorCal Chefs

Garlic Festival Sets Showdown Field With 4 Prominent NorCal Chefs GILROY, California — A quartet of distinguished professional chefs from Northern California will vie for a top prize of $5,000 and 1,000 pounds of fresh Christopher Ranch garlic at the Garlic Showdown on the final day of the 2008 Gilroy Garlic Festival. Festival officials announced the complete field today. Mark Ayers of the Highlands Inn and Hyatt Regency Monterey and Christophe Preyale of the Fountaingrove Golf & Athletic Club in Santa Rosa have been invited to join previously selected Ryan Scott of San Francisco’s Mission Beach Café and James Waller of the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa. All four men are executive chefs with their respective affiliations. Returning after a much-acclaimed debut at last year’s Festival, the Garlic Showdown, presented by Raley’s and Nob Hill Foods, will pit the foursome in an Iron Chef-style competition at high noon on July 27 before a live audience on the Festival’s Cook-Off stage. Tony Baker of Monterey’s Montrio Bistro was the winner of last year’s inaugural Showdown. The chefs will be challenged to prepare a personalized entrée featuring the day’s key ingredient: GARLIC. Contestants will be allowed to bring their favorite spices and personal cookware. The chefs will be given a “secret ingredient” and will have one hour to prepare, plate and serve their creations to a select panel of judges. Each chef will be expected to prepare two entrées with the accompanying side dishes. “We were elated with the response we received to last year’s Showdown,” said Festival Recipe Committee Chairperson Barbara DeLorenzo. “With the number of distinguished cooking professionals in this region, such an event just seems natural for the Festival. And we are overwhelmed with the quality of this year’s field.” James Waller was selected for the field by Magic 63 AM – Radio KIDD in Monterey. Waller has served as the executive chef at the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa since 1997. Most recently, as a result of his presentations at The Duck Club Grill in Monterey, in 2007 Waller won the Five-Star Diamond Award, the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence and the AAA Four-Diamond Award. Ryan Scott, selected by KGO Radio Newstalk 810, joined Mission Beach Café in June 2008. He was formerly the chef and manager of Café Myth, which in 2006 was recognized by San Francisco Magazine as the city’s No. 1 dining destination. In spring 2008 Scott competed as one of 16 chefs on Bravo’s top reality show, “Top Chef: Chicago”. Mark Ayers was one of two Showdown selections made by the Festival Recipe Committee. Ayers began his professional career in Vail, Colo., as chef de cuisine in Patina. Later, he served as executive sous-chef at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek. While in Vail, Chef Ayers had the privilege of cooking for several high-profile people, including former president Gerald Ford, in his private home. Christophe Preyale has earned a total of four double gold medals, four gold medals, six silver medals, two bronze medals at the Sonoma County Harvest Festival in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and was the recipient of the esteemed Best in Show award in 2007 in the Appetizer category. The 2008 Gilroy Garlic Festival will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. July 25-27 at Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy. Admission is $12 for adults, $6 for seniors (ages 60 and up) and $6 for children ages 6-12. Children under age six are admitted free. Parking is also free. Advance tickets are available online at www.gilroygarlicfestival.com Information can be obtained by calling the Festival office at (408) 842-1625. Complete biographical information on all four Garlic Showdown chefs is available in the Media Center at www.gilroygarlicfestival.com