Chase Encounters, Las Vegas Uncork'd 2013 - $20,000 Scholarship Challenge

LAS VEGAS – Chase Sapphire Preferred®, a premier travel rewards card from Chase, in partnership with Bon Appétit hosted the Chase Sapphire Preferred Grill Challenge, on Saturday, May 11, during Bellagio’s Block Party at the seventh annual Vegas Uncork’d by Bon Appétit. Renowned chefs Akira Back and Todd English partnered with two local Las Vegas Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute students, Andrew Merfalen and Todd Huelsman, respectively, to re-imagine a classic French dish during a live grilling competition.

Todd English and Todd Huelsman were named grill challenge champions after stunning the judges with a show-stopping dish featuring a rich foie gras mousse paired with chicken payard, topped with panko asparagus and finished with a demi-glace. Todd Huelsman was awarded a $20,000 scholarship, presented by Chase Sapphire Preferred, to help fund his culinary education at the Las Vegas Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute. An additional $5,000 was presented to runner-up Andrew Merfalen.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with acclaimed chef Todd English at such a prestigious food festival” said Todd Huelsman. “The generous $20,000 donation from Chase Sapphire Preferred is truly life changing and will allow me to further my culinary education as I strive to be as successful as the world-class chefs at the event.”

The two students from the Las Vegas Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute were selected for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve as sous-chefs for Akira Back, Executive Chef of Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant & Lounge at Bellagio, and Todd English, Chef at Olives at Bellagio, through a Vine video and essay competition presented by Bon Appétit and the Las Vegas Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute.

“It is an honor to be involved in the Chase Sapphire Preferred Grill Challenge and work with rising culinary talent from Las Vegas Le Cordon Bleu,” said Akira Back. “I had fun working side-by-side with Andrew building our dish and battling Team English.”

Bon Appétit restaurant and spirits editor, Andrew Knowlton, emceed the event. The judging panel included Denise Valdez, KLAS-TV anchor and 8 News NOW personality, alongside Bon Appétit, Editor-in-Chief, Adam Rapoport, and a lucky Chase Sapphire cardholder. 

“The Chase Sapphire Preferred Grill Challenge was the highlight of the weekend, the celebrity chefs and Le Cordon Bleu students not only brought their culinary expertise, but also their competitive edge to the event,” said Sean O’Reilly, general manager, JP Morgan Chase. “We know how important it is to support the next generation of chef talent, and by providing scholarships funds we are furthering these students’ culinary dreams.” 

The seventh annual Vegas Uncork’d by presented by Bon Appétit and Las Vegas, in partnership with Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and Chase Sapphire Preferred ran May 9-12. The food festival featured chefs including Akira Back, Todd English, Bobby Flay, Michael Mina, Nobu Matsuhisa, Gordon Ramsay, Michel Richard and Joël Robuchon.

As a presenting sponsor of Vegas Uncork’d, Chase Sapphire Preferred offered cardholders the ability to redeem credit card rewards points or purchase tickets to select Vegas Uncork’d events – and enjoy exclusive perks, such as a VIP lounge at the Grand Tasting and a private brunch featuring cuisine prepared by Executive Chef Julian Serrano of Picasso at Bellagio. About Vegas Uncork’d by Bon Appétit

Student Walkout at Culinary Institute of America

The Culinary Institute of America. [Photo: CIA / Facebook]

(Paula Forbes & Eater.com recently ran this piece which is direct evidence that no matter what you do, always question what you are being told, especially when it involves your future and your bank account.)

Students at the Culinary Institute of America staged a walkout protest yesterday, with about a fifth of the school's attendees demonstrating. According to the New York Times, they were protesting "a weakening enforcement of educational standards," including perceived lowered standards for admittance and graduation as well as rapid expansion. Students at the protest wore nametags declaring the amount of debt they had accrued going to the CIA; one student who spoke to the Times owes $87,500.

But are academic standards weakening? According to the school's provost, admissions standards, at least, are actually going up. The president of the student government told the Times he finds the protest "childish."

This is not the first time the spirit of revolution has seized the students at the CIA. Back in 2008, students demonstrated against CIA president Tim Ryan, complaining that the school's relationship with corporate food led to students learning institutionalized food preparations and lowered academic standards overall.

Students involved in the protest yesterday told the Times they were trying to preserve the reputation of the school, in order to protect their investment in their education. But is culinary school even worth the massive debt, regardless of academic standards? Eh, people have mixed feelings about that.

*The Supreme Plate - Editors Note: As a former graduate from a major Culinary institution here in the United States, who upon graduation was also handed an outlandish bill for my less than 2 years on campus I understand where these students are coming from. The interest in being a Chef or working in the food industry has blown up beyond what anyone could have predicted, especially those currently working in the field. The problem that Culinary many students are facing (i.e. tuition and the taxation that is applied via Sallie Mae & other lenders, the inability to find a good job after graduation and more) is something that most college graduates are forced to deal with upon completing their “program” of choice. You will hear the usual gripes of “I am now a Chef, I deserve to be making $65,000 a year and running a restaurant by now” or my favorite so far “I really didn’t learn anything that I didn’t already know” but the most alarming of them all is “I have graduated and now I really don’t want to go work in a kitchen” or I just simply refuse to pay dues. What it all boils down too, is the frightening fact that we truly live in a day and age of instant gratification. The majority of the students attending Culinary schools across America are very young in age (18-22) and have no clue what they want to be in life so they jumped at a choice to attend a college aimed at making them the most popular thing to be on TV these days, a Chef. I was speaking with a Chef Instructor of mine recently who had left his position at Le Cordon Bleu and had gone back to working in a restaurant. He was telling me that yes he loved the light hours he worked while being a teacher but that the overall lack of desire and the over crowding of the classes (which can directly be attributed too greed and the overall goal of making money,) drove him right out of a job he truly loved performing day in and out. The commercials make it seem as if you go to school, graduate and become a celebrity overnight, which is far from the truth. As in any career the desire to perform the necessary tasks to help you achieve your goals must be present and with today’s students having little to no desire to hustle up a career, it is frightening to think of who will be manning the helm at our favorite eateries over the next decade or so. I applaud the students who took the risk of walking out of class to prove their point, that in itself could have been grounds for dismissal at an institute as prestigious as CIA, but must ask this question did you truly not listen to what the enrolling agent was telling you about the completion rates, final costs and added interests to your loans would be & finally did you not think to ask around from previous graduates as to what they experienced upon completing such an expensive program?   

ROTD: Chef Franco's Arroz Con Pollo

It isn’t often that you meet someone and know right off the bat your going to be good friends for years to come. While going to Le Cordon Bleu many years back, I was fortunate enough to bump into Chef Marques Franco, a gentle giant of sorts who has unbelievable skills in the kitchen as well as on the football field. We made sure that neither of us ever gave up or missed a day of school and with that, we both graduated with honors.

Chef Franco has gone on to open his own catering company that operates out of Los Angeles that makes some of the most delicious pies, cobblers & cakes as well as a full scale catering menu with everything from gourmet / fine dining faire to backyard BBQ. 

One of the dishes we fell in love with of Chef Franco’s was his exquisite, Arroz con Pollo. Graciously giving us his recipe, Chef Franco wants everyone to understand that cooking isn’t the hardest thing you will ever do in your life, but it can be one of the most rewarding if you have patience and the desire to literally feed others something good for their soul.

Thanks for the recipe Chef Franco.

(click Read More for the Entire Recipe)