Ottawa chef wins Canadian Culinary Championship

An Ottawa chef has won Canada's top culinary prize.
Briana Kim, of Ottawa's Alice Restaurant, won the 2023 Canadian Culinary Championship, held this weekend in Ottawa. She was the winner of the Great Kitchen Party Ottawa last September, which qualified her for the national competition.
Kim was the unanimous first-place choice among judges this weekend at the championship. Her winning dish was a plant-based offering of onion tuile, smoked potatoes, rhubarb jerky, maitake mushrooms, pickled onion, dill, lacto-fermented green tomato and koji broth, the same dish that won her the regional title.
Chef Briana Kim's gold medal-winning dish: onion tuile, smoked potatoes, rhubarb jerky, maitake, pickled onion, dill sour cream, facto green tomato and koji broth. (Great Kitchen Party Ottawa)
"I feel overwhelmed and so excited," Kim said in a media release. "My team and I dreamt about winning the Canadian Culinary Championship. We couldn’t have prepared more for this competition, ever since we were selected for the regional event. We worked hard and our hard work paid off."
Kim attended the University of Ottawa before starting Café My House, a plant-based restaurant in Hintonburg. She closed it and opened the vegetable and fermentation-focused Alice in 2019, which was one of Canada's top 100 restaurants in 2022. This was Kim's second time appearing in the Canadian Culinary Championship.
The silver medal was awarded to Bobby Milheron of Homer St. Café and Bar in Vancouver for his dish of wild Canadian geoduck, BC spot prawn terrine, sunchoke and bull kelp in shellfish jus. The bronze was awarded to Serge Belair of the Edmonton Convention Center for his selection of desserts: warm chocolate cake, white wine sabayon, sous vide pear, gorgonzola roasted pear ice cream and citrus pear macaron.
The competition was interrupted Saturday when, during the second event, a power outage at the venue, Algonquin College, prevented the chefs from preparing their dishes. That meant that the judging was based on Friday's "Mystery Wine Competition", during which Kim won the People's Choice award, and the Grand Finale, which was held Saturday evening at the Shaw Centre to a sold-out crowd of 550 attendees.
Proceeds from the event go to support three Canadian beneficiaries: Spirit North, MusiCounts and the Ottawa Boys and Girls Club.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada makes amendments to foreign homebuyers ban – here's what they look like
Months after Canada's ban on foreign homebuyers took effect on Jan. 1, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has made several amendments to the legislation allowing non-Canadians to purchase residential properties in certain circumstances.

'Leave this with me': Alberta premier heard on call with COVID-19 protester
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, in a leaked cellphone call, commiserated with a COVID-19 protester about his trial while divulging to him there was an internal dispute over how Crown prosecutors were handling COVID-19 cases.
What is the grocery rebate in federal budget 2023? Key questions, answered
To help offset rising living expenses, the Government of Canada has introduced a one-time grocery rebate for low- and modest-income Canadians. Here is what we know about the rebate.
RCMP arrest 5 while executing search warrant at Wet'suwet'en protest camp
RCMP officers executed a search warrant at a protest camp on Wet'suwet'en traditional territory near the under-construction Coastal GasLink pipeline Wednesday.
'Compostable' food packaging may contain hazardous 'forever chemicals': Canadian study
As Canada phases out single-use plastics, more restaurants are opting to use 'compostable' takeout containers. But a new study suggests some of these supposedly eco-friendly containers may pose hazards to our health and the environment.
Could Usain Bolt outrun a 900-pound dinosaur? Physics professor poses the question
A new academic paper pits legendary sprinter Usain Bolt against a 900-pound dinosaur to see who could run a 100-metre distance the fastest.
Many Canadians like to tell 'white lies' about home-cooked meals: survey
Have you ever had to lie about the quality of a home-cooked meal to protect someone's feelings? According to a new survey by Research Co. you’re not the only one.
Spending to increase economic capacity is fiscally responsible, Freeland says in post-budget defence
Defending her latest federal budget, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said spending that increases economic capacity is fiscally responsible.
Victim of Vancouver stabbing had asked man not to vape near toddler, says grieving mom
The family of a 37-year-old man who was stabbed to death in Vancouver last weekend says he was attacked after asking someone not to vape near his young daughter.