View the Eugene Iron Chef menu.
EUGENE, Ore. - Lane Community College culinary graduate and lead chef at Mame sushi restaurant in Eugene, Taro Kobayashi, will compete against his peers in the Iron Chef Eugene competition at Lane's Center for Meeting and Learning, Building 19, Room 109, main campus, 4000 E. 30th Avenue in Eugene.
The competition has three heats: Heat 1, Sunday, May 31; Heat 2, Tuesday, June 16; and the final showdown, Monday, July 6. The community is invited and proceeds help fund Lane's Culinary and Hospitality Management program. Tickets for each heat are available for $75 per person, and the final showdown is $100 per person. Tickets can be purchased online.
The competition is an annual event attracting Eugene area chefs who will battle it out to claim the title of "Iron Chef Eugene." Iron Chef Eugene features some of Eugene's finest chefs. Each chef will use an identical kitchen, tools and pantry. Each chef will have 60 minutes to plan, prepare and plate a delectable entrée for a five-judge panel of experts. LCC President Mary Spilde will serve as one of the judges. Each chef must incorporate "secret ingredients" that will be unknown to chefs and spectators until they are unveiled at the beginning of the competition for all to see. The chefs will race the clock and each other to create a masterpiece on stage in front of the audience.
While the chefs prepare their delectable meals, guests will enjoy a four-course meal prepared by students from Lane's Culinary program alongside Chef Adam Hammel and Chef Tim Hill. Each course will be paired with carefully selected wine from the Oregon Wine Lab.
Emcees for the competition will be Lane Hospitality Management Instructor Lisa Benson and Oregon Wine Lab owner Mark Nickols. They will interview the chefs and judges while the food is julienned, simmered, and grilled in front of guests. Oregon grown and raised specialties will be featured in identical pantries the chefs will have available for their use during the competition. At the end of the 60-minute competition, the chefs will present their creations to each judge.
The winners of the first two competitions will battle each other in the finale for glory and the title of Iron Chef Eugene. Chefs are also competing for a slot in Portland's Bite of Oregon in August to compete in the statewide Iron Chef Oregon competition.
Heats and Competitors—
May 31: Guests will enjoy a four-course meal paired with wine from Oregon Wine Lab and prepared by students from Lane's Culinary program alongside LCC Chef Instructors Adam Hannel and Tim Hill, while they watch Mikey Lawrence and Brendan Mahaney from Belly compete with Taro Kobayashi and Patrick Reyes from Mame. Tickets are $75 per person.
June 16: Guests will enjoy a four-course meal paired with wine from Oregon Wine Lab, prepared by students from Lane's Culinary program alongside LCC Banquet Chefs Adam Hammel and Tim Hill, while they watch Mark Kosmicki and Tiffany Norton from Party Downtown compete with Ryk Francisco and Dunkin Bennington from WildCraft Cider Works. Tickets are $75 per person.
July 6: Guests will enjoy a four-course meal paired with wines from Oregon Wine Lab, prepared by students from Lane's Culinary program alongside prior celebrity Iron Chef Oregon winner Jeff Strom of Koho Bistro. Tickets are $100 per person.
The event is sponsored by the Center for Meeting and Learning and Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management at Lane Community College, in partnership with Oregon Wine Lab, and McDonald Wholesale.
For more information contact Shelly Kane at kanes@lanecc.edu or (541) 463-3514 work or (541) 221-0608 cell.
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