This was the winning dish at Ottawa’s top culinary competition
Award-winning chef Briana Kim will represent Ottawa at Canada’s top culinary competition after winning the gold medal at the regional event.
Kim is the executive chef of Alice Restaurant in Little Italy, which has a focus on fermentation and plant-based cooking. She took the gold medal at Monday's Great Kitchen Party Ottawa, qualifying her for next year's national competition.
Kim’s winning dish: onion tuile, smoked potatoes, rhubarb jerky, maitake, pickled onion, dill sour cream, facto green tomato and koji broth.
Éric Chagnon-Zimmerly of North & Navy finished in second and Justin Champagne of Perch finished third. Dominique Dufour of Gray Jay and Wapokunie Riel-Lachapelle of Nikosi Bistro in Wakefield, Que. also competed.
Seven judges deliberated over the dishes, which the chefs presented with accompanying beverages. Kim’s dish was paired with a Pearl Morissette Irreverence 2019 from Niagara Peninsula, Ont.
“Overall, there were five exciting and thoughtful dishes that made us all concentrate and think about them and yet they were all so delicious,” James Chatto, the national head judge, said in a news release. “The Chefs were all very courageous; they went out on a limb. …But in the end Briana’s dish shone brighter than anyone else and it was a unanimous decision.”
Kim attended the University of Ottawa before starting Café My House, a plant-based restaurant in Hintonburg. She closed it and opened Alice in 2019.
Kim will go on to represent Ottawa-Gatineau at the Canadian Culinary Championship in Ottawa on Feb. 3 and 4, where she will compete against chefs from eight other Canadian cities.
“It feels great,” she said. “We were really excited to present our dish tonight. We were hoping that the guests would appreciate it as much as the judges, and we couldn’t be more happy.”
Winning chef Briana Kim with Éric Chagnon-Zimmerly (left, silver) and Justin Champagne (bronze).
The competition was previously known as Gold Medal Plates. Kim also won Ottawa’s competition in 2017 and represented the city at the Canadian championships the following year.
Ottawa’s regional event was held Monday at Le Cordon Bleu in Sandy Hill. This was the first in-person event since 2019; there were none in 2020 or 2021 because of the pandemic.
The evening also raised money for two national charities—Spirit North and MusiCounts—as well as the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.