Culinary Champ Emerges in Friendly Competition

Teams of Bay Area chefs and local politicians competed in a cooking competition at a Pinole industrial park Wednesday night, with a Benicia restaurant team taking the honors for the best dish created out of random ingredients.

The Culinary Clash, a fundraiser for the non-profit Kitchen@812, asked teams to plan and prepare a dish based on ingredients at hand, with a last-minute challenge of incorporating prickly pear-flavored jelly beans. The contest was based on the Food Network TV series "Chopped."

A team with the chef and sous chef from Pappas Restaurant in Benicia took the prized rolling pin award on the votes of three judges. Pappas Chef Patrick Robertson said that when he saw the jelly bean ingredient revealed, he immediately decided to "go Asian" in creating his dish. Also on his team were sous chef Ed Sullivan and guest chef El Cerrito City Councilwoman Ann Cheng.

Other guest chefs were Hercules City Councilwoman Myrna de Vera and Pinole City Councilman Roy Swearingen.

The four Culinary Clash chefs who competed were Robertson of in Benicia, Ismael Macias of Lark Creek Steak in San Francisco, Adriana Lopez-Vermut of Pica Pica Maize Kitchen in San Francisco  and Ian Marks of Beast and The Hare in San Francisco.

, located in the Pinole Shores Business Park, allows bakers, cooks, caterers others to use the commercial equipment and storage to prepare food items. It also offers business support and services at no charge.

Wednesday's event raised money for kitchen equipment and scholarships.