Eight chefs from the university’s dining halls and the Rutgers Club to compete
Ever wonder what it’s like to be in the audience as chefs put their skills to the test in a nail-biting competition to prove they are the best?
Then come to Rutgers annual Culinary Challenge on January 11 as eight chefs from the university’s dining halls and the Rutgers Club face off. They will compete to represent Rutgers at the regional final of the National Association of College and University Food Services Culinary Challenge. The competition recognizes outstanding food preparation and presentation in dining services. Chefs Mark Ainsworth and Chef Phil Crispo from the Culinary Institute of America will judge the event.
The event is part Top Chef meets Chopped meets Rutgers Dining Services. The competitors will have 60 minutes, with 10 additional minutes for plating, to prepare four portions of an original hot entrée using a mandatory ingredient (in this case, duck) with side dishes and sauces to create a balanced plate. This year’s competitors include a regional and national medal winner.
Meet some of the chefs who will be participating:
Peter Blake, a graduate of the Lee Barnes Cooking School in New Orleans, has won several gold and silver medals at regional and national food competitions. He has worked at Rutgers for more than 10 years and assisted iron chef Alex Stupak during a molecular gastronomy demonstration at Busch Dining Hall. Blake has continued his studies at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and at the institute’s Greystone campus in Napa Valley. Blake currently works at Brower Commons.
Matthew Kane got his first taste of the restaurant industry at age 15 working as a dishwasher in a highly rated restaurant. In high school he enrolled in a nationally recognized culinary arts program and moved to New York City after college, where he was introduced to seasonal and regional cooking and the farm to table concept. Kane returned to his native Hunterdon County in 2000 to open the highly regarded No. 9 Restaurant in Lambertville. Kane joined Rutgers Dining Services in 2011 and has worked at the Rutgers Club, assisted with the opening of Livingston Commons and is currently a chef manager at Neilson Dining Hall.
David Anthony Mulé, a graduate of Johnson and Wales University, developed a flair for Cajun cuisine while working as the head chef for Old Bay in New Brunswick when the restaurant was voted the best in Central Jersey. He worked in the corporate world cooking at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs and for major events including Sports Illustrated Man of the Year and the U.S. Open before coming to Rutgers as the chef manager for Neilson Dining Hall on the Cook/Douglass Campus.
Randy Pavlik is participating in his second culinary challenge. He decided he wanted to be a chef when he was 16, cooking at a local pizzeria after school. Pavlik enrolled in the New York Restaurant School after graduation and accepted an internship at The Frog and the Peach in New Brunswick, where he worked for several years rising to the position of sous chef. He has also worked at Princeton University dining halls and the Center for Jewish Life kosher kitchen. Pavlik joined Rutgers in October as a chef manager at the Rutgers Club.
Brian Petersen’s passion for food was ignited as a teenager working in some of New Jersey’s best restaurants. His early career included a job with the nation’s most foremost chef, Dennis Foy, in Chatham before attending the Culinary Institute of America. After graduation, he worked in Aspen, Colorado, and at several high-profile restaurants in New York City, including the world famous China Grill. He has competed in several cooking competitions and has volunteered with the James Beard Foundation, the Association for Battered Women, and the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Petersen works in the Busch Dining Hall.
Jeremey Pierson, a bronze medal winner in the college and university food services regional championship, is a graduate of the New York Restaurant School and currently chef manager at the Rutgers Club. Before coming to Rutgers, he worked at the Frog and the Peach and the Lincroft Inn. In 2011, Pierson competed at the Mid-Atlantic National Association of College and University Food Services Regional Culinary Competition, where he won a bronze medal.
Peter Imranyi, a silver medal winner in the college and university food services national championship, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. He has worked in several fine dining and banquet centers including Forsgate Country Club, Princeton Hyatt Regency and The Frog and the Peach in New Brunswick. He joined Rutgers in the summer of 2003 and is currently a chef manager at the Rutgers Club. Since coming to Rutgers, Imranyi has placed first in two regional competitions and received a silver medal in the 2009 National Association of College and University Food Services competition.
If you go: The Dining Services annual Culinary Challenge will take place 10 a.m. on January 11 in Brower Commons..