-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-Scouters have put up $750,000 in the latest contract deal for the controversy-mired chef Stephen Dreim in a vain and desperate attempt to rehire the haughty culinary master who may have alienated too many of his fellow chefs to be welcomed back warmly.
Dreim set an offer minimum of $750,000 Thursday, and it took all weekend long for Feast Fest to determine whether they wished to respond or to simply drop the matter.
Very late Sunday, following extensive deliberation, scouters decided to offer up a contract for exactly that amount. Never mind it's $197,000 more than he was originally scheduled to make, and never mind that in a recent poll 81% of chefs viewed Dreim negatively; the scouters seem intent on snaring him back.
The deal, however, is only for one year, so that scouters and Dreim could revisit the situation in the offseason. "We're just doing this to patch up the situation for this Thanksgiving," an unnamed scouter said.
Dreim has yet to comment.
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The NCA Feast Fest lives here
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Sunday, October 28, 2012
Avi Wins NCA's Most Determined
-New York
-Lynn Avi has won her second NCA's Most Determined honor, an NCA official who did not give her game because she claimed to be unauthorized to announce award winners, said very late Sunday.
Avi won this trophy in 2008, and Jim McAllister took it home in 2009 and 2011.
Speaking of McAllister, he placed second in voting, with 14% of the vote, to Avi's 16%. "I feel absolutely thrilled to be receiving 'Most Determined' yet again," she said via a web chat.
Jan Stephan placed eleventh in the survey, and Lisa Choi placed twenty-second.
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-Lynn Avi has won her second NCA's Most Determined honor, an NCA official who did not give her game because she claimed to be unauthorized to announce award winners, said very late Sunday.
Avi won this trophy in 2008, and Jim McAllister took it home in 2009 and 2011.
Speaking of McAllister, he placed second in voting, with 14% of the vote, to Avi's 16%. "I feel absolutely thrilled to be receiving 'Most Determined' yet again," she said via a web chat.
Jan Stephan placed eleventh in the survey, and Lisa Choi placed twenty-second.
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98.4 at Edelyn
-Punta Gorda, Fla.
-It's 98.4 here in South Florida.
That's 0.4 less than the mark achieved at the final exhibition before Thanksgiving last year, but it leaves the chefs feeling plenty confident.
"Not precisely what we wanted," said Jim McAllister, a furrowing frown breaking splitsecondly through his smile. "We feel we're in a good place, but we'll have lots of ground to cover come Nov. 22...more so than last year."
In 2011, Feast Fest scored 98.8 at the Edelyn exhibition and then 99.0 on Thanksgiving.
"We want to top that 99," McAllister said.
Lisa Choi swept home the Most Valuable Chef award; she also got the MVC at the second Edelyn contest in 2011. "A real rocking performance we had here today," Choi said, elated and hoisting her gold-plated MVC trophy. "I'm excited."
William Vanderbilt, Jim Dall, and Arthur Ayeiy, visiting Punta Gorda and watching the exhibition as a stop on their 10-day, 31-city tour, said through a spokesperson that it was "astounding to see the beauty of the collaborative effort put forth by our chefs here in this exhibition to attain a spectacular 98.4 rating."
The points leaderboard here at Edelyn:
Choi - 41 & MVC
McAllister - 41
Avi - 38
Wholehreh - 37
Jahswheich - 34
Pasik - 34
J. Stephan - 33
Pierce-Mulleone - 31
Mettling - 31
Law - 29
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-It's 98.4 here in South Florida.
That's 0.4 less than the mark achieved at the final exhibition before Thanksgiving last year, but it leaves the chefs feeling plenty confident.
"Not precisely what we wanted," said Jim McAllister, a furrowing frown breaking splitsecondly through his smile. "We feel we're in a good place, but we'll have lots of ground to cover come Nov. 22...more so than last year."
In 2011, Feast Fest scored 98.8 at the Edelyn exhibition and then 99.0 on Thanksgiving.
"We want to top that 99," McAllister said.
Lisa Choi swept home the Most Valuable Chef award; she also got the MVC at the second Edelyn contest in 2011. "A real rocking performance we had here today," Choi said, elated and hoisting her gold-plated MVC trophy. "I'm excited."
William Vanderbilt, Jim Dall, and Arthur Ayeiy, visiting Punta Gorda and watching the exhibition as a stop on their 10-day, 31-city tour, said through a spokesperson that it was "astounding to see the beauty of the collaborative effort put forth by our chefs here in this exhibition to attain a spectacular 98.4 rating."
The points leaderboard here at Edelyn:
Choi - 41 & MVC
McAllister - 41
Avi - 38
Wholehreh - 37
Jahswheich - 34
Pasik - 34
J. Stephan - 33
Pierce-Mulleone - 31
Mettling - 31
Law - 29
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DigIn Bell Rings Prematurely at Edelyn
-Punta Gorda, Ca.
-Cooking has concluded here at Edelyn Cooking Arena in Punta Gorda, Fla., with a projected score of 97.0, though that could vary wildly once the critics actually chow down on the food. It looks a tad bleak here, though, as last year, the chefs rammed down 98.8 here at Edelyn.
Jim McAllister and Lisa Choi are tied at the top of the leaderboard with 41 points each.
"Feel positive about our outcome today, a bit worried about how the score will turn out. If we get something comparatively low, it might make it seem as if we have a higher mountain to scale on Nov. 22," said McAllister. "So we'll see."
Choi felt "exceedingly confident" about how the score would come out, and Joe Pasik labeled himself as "relieved, ebullient, but a tad concerned scorewise."
The score announcement is scheduled for approximately 8 p.m. E/5 p.m. P.
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-Cooking has concluded here at Edelyn Cooking Arena in Punta Gorda, Fla., with a projected score of 97.0, though that could vary wildly once the critics actually chow down on the food. It looks a tad bleak here, though, as last year, the chefs rammed down 98.8 here at Edelyn.
Jim McAllister and Lisa Choi are tied at the top of the leaderboard with 41 points each.
"Feel positive about our outcome today, a bit worried about how the score will turn out. If we get something comparatively low, it might make it seem as if we have a higher mountain to scale on Nov. 22," said McAllister. "So we'll see."
Choi felt "exceedingly confident" about how the score would come out, and Joe Pasik labeled himself as "relieved, ebullient, but a tad concerned scorewise."
The score announcement is scheduled for approximately 8 p.m. E/5 p.m. P.
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After 3 Hours, 96.8
-Punta Gorda, Fla.
-A large spike in scoring has brought the projected here at Edelyn to 96.8 with a half hour remaining.
Lisa Choi has overtaken Jim McAllister in points, with 39 to Jimmy's 37.
Third in points is Lynn Avi (33).
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-A large spike in scoring has brought the projected here at Edelyn to 96.8 with a half hour remaining.
Lisa Choi has overtaken Jim McAllister in points, with 39 to Jimmy's 37.
Third in points is Lynn Avi (33).
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After 2 1/2 Hours, 95.7
-Punta Gorda, Fla.
-It's 95.7 here after 2 1/2 hours, meaning the FFers still have a smidgen of work to do to get the score here at Edelyn up to last year's standards, when they scored a 98.9.
Jim McAllister leads with 35 points; Lisa Choi is second with 33.
Next update: 7E/4P
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-It's 95.7 here after 2 1/2 hours, meaning the FFers still have a smidgen of work to do to get the score here at Edelyn up to last year's standards, when they scored a 98.9.
Jim McAllister leads with 35 points; Lisa Choi is second with 33.
Next update: 7E/4P
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After an Hour, 88.3
-Punta Gorda, Fla.
-After one hour of cooking here in Punta Gorda, Jim McAllister continues to lead in points with 17, with Lisa Choi second with 16.
The score, 88.3, is rapidly rising. A few snags, such as a burned turkey and spilled stuffing, have held the score at an hour back a little bit, but those little incidents were mostly in the first twenty to thirty minutes, and it now seems that the chefs have regrouped and recovered.
"Had a couple mishaps," said Thenoø Law. "Got to put 'em behind us and rocket on. 'Sall we can do."
Next update: 6E/3P
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-After one hour of cooking here in Punta Gorda, Jim McAllister continues to lead in points with 17, with Lisa Choi second with 16.
The score, 88.3, is rapidly rising. A few snags, such as a burned turkey and spilled stuffing, have held the score at an hour back a little bit, but those little incidents were mostly in the first twenty to thirty minutes, and it now seems that the chefs have regrouped and recovered.
"Had a couple mishaps," said Thenoø Law. "Got to put 'em behind us and rocket on. 'Sall we can do."
Next update: 6E/3P
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Cooking at Edelyn
-Punta Gorda, Fla.
-We're underway! The cooking portion bell rang at 3:54 E/12:54 P, and we're now cookin' at Edelyn!
Jim McAllister has had a strong start, as usual, already leading in points.
Next update: 5E/2P
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-We're underway! The cooking portion bell rang at 3:54 E/12:54 P, and we're now cookin' at Edelyn!
Jim McAllister has had a strong start, as usual, already leading in points.
Next update: 5E/2P
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Minutes Away at Edelyn
-Punta Gorda, Fla.
-We're now mere minutes away from the start if the official cooking portion here in Punta Gorda's Edelyn Cooking Arena. The official start time was pushed forward from 4pmE/1pmP to 3:50pmE/12:50pmP. All introductions and pre-ceremonies have concluded, so we are now just waiting for the bell to sound.
The 3 1/2-hour exhibition has a scheduled DigIn time of 7:30pmE/4:30pmP. So far, the stands here at Edelyn look good and full.
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-We're now mere minutes away from the start if the official cooking portion here in Punta Gorda's Edelyn Cooking Arena. The official start time was pushed forward from 4pmE/1pmP to 3:50pmE/12:50pmP. All introductions and pre-ceremonies have concluded, so we are now just waiting for the bell to sound.
The 3 1/2-hour exhibition has a scheduled DigIn time of 7:30pmE/4:30pmP. So far, the stands here at Edelyn look good and full.
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Final List for Edelyn Released
-Punta Gorda, Fla.
-The final list has been released for the exhibition here in Punta Gorda, which will start in about forty minutes.
The Mason Duo will again not be participating due to prior commitments--to make up for the fact that they will have missed the last two exhibitions, they have announced plans to schedule an unofficial mock exhibition with some of the Feast Fest chefs in Los Angeles "sometime in early November." Stephen Dreim also will not participate due to his continually mired negotiations with Feast Fest scouters.
We know now the names of five other chefs who will sit out the exhibition:
Cook
Okoworth
Allworth
Jurrjens
Anders
Jawroldy Jurrjens, who missed Monday's Morro Bay exhibition, will also miss this one as he continues to recover from a bout of mononucleosis.
Patti Allworth is also too sick to attend, and Peter Cook is staying behind to board up his Maryland home and establishment for the impending Hurricane Sandy.
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-The final list has been released for the exhibition here in Punta Gorda, which will start in about forty minutes.
The Mason Duo will again not be participating due to prior commitments--to make up for the fact that they will have missed the last two exhibitions, they have announced plans to schedule an unofficial mock exhibition with some of the Feast Fest chefs in Los Angeles "sometime in early November." Stephen Dreim also will not participate due to his continually mired negotiations with Feast Fest scouters.
We know now the names of five other chefs who will sit out the exhibition:
Cook
Okoworth
Allworth
Jurrjens
Anders
Jawroldy Jurrjens, who missed Monday's Morro Bay exhibition, will also miss this one as he continues to recover from a bout of mononucleosis.
Patti Allworth is also too sick to attend, and Peter Cook is staying behind to board up his Maryland home and establishment for the impending Hurricane Sandy.
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Vanderbilt-Dall-Ayeiy Arrive For Edelyn Exhibition
-Punta Gorda, CA
-The William Vanderbilt-Jim Dall-Arthur Ayeiy threesome has arrived here in Punta Gorda to take a break from their week-and-a-half-long, whirlwind recruiting and contract negotiation tour to settle back, relax, and watch the final Feast Fest exhibition.
"I'm extremely pumped for this final exhibition, one that will set the stage for the performance the chefs ram down on Thanksgiving," Vanderbilt said.
The three could be seen mingling on the floor with chefs pre-exhibition Sunday, and seemed to receive a very warm reception. Some worried about the reception Dall would receive; the Head Scouter is sometimes on iffy terms with chefs, and, during the last exhibition he attended, at Notes in April, chef Patrick Kermell told him to "buzz off" when he "pestered" him on the floor mere minutes before the start of the exhibition.
"That was a mistake," Dall admits now. "You can't be on the floor too close to the start bell, it can shake the chefs up, and I was that time."
The exhibition starts at 4 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Pacific.
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-The William Vanderbilt-Jim Dall-Arthur Ayeiy threesome has arrived here in Punta Gorda to take a break from their week-and-a-half-long, whirlwind recruiting and contract negotiation tour to settle back, relax, and watch the final Feast Fest exhibition.
"I'm extremely pumped for this final exhibition, one that will set the stage for the performance the chefs ram down on Thanksgiving," Vanderbilt said.
The three could be seen mingling on the floor with chefs pre-exhibition Sunday, and seemed to receive a very warm reception. Some worried about the reception Dall would receive; the Head Scouter is sometimes on iffy terms with chefs, and, during the last exhibition he attended, at Notes in April, chef Patrick Kermell told him to "buzz off" when he "pestered" him on the floor mere minutes before the start of the exhibition.
"That was a mistake," Dall admits now. "You can't be on the floor too close to the start bell, it can shake the chefs up, and I was that time."
The exhibition starts at 4 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Pacific.
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Edelyn Seems A Big Friend to McAllister, Choi, Mettling
-Punta Gorda, Fla.
-As we approach the start bell for the final exhibition at Edelyn Cooking Arena here in Punta Gorda, it is intriguing to note the recent surges that three big name chefs have seen here.
Jim McAllister, Lisa Choi, and Daniel Settling never seem to flail here at Edelyn. McAllister's been in all but one exhibition here at Edelyn in the eleven years it's been used as an exhibitional site. Of 17 appearances here in this pyramidic cooking arena, he has placed in the top three in NCA points all but once and in the top two 14 times. He's been first in points 7 times at Edelyn and has won the Edelyn MVC five times. Choi has also benefited at Edelyn. Of 15 appearances, she's been in the top three 11 times and also has five MVCs from Punta Gorda. And Daniel Mettling, while a relatively new Feast Fest chef compared to McAllister and Choi, has had Edelyn been extremely kind to him in his five exhibitions here. He's been in the top three in points here thrice, and led in points and won the MVC here at Edelyn back in January.
Watch for these three Feast Fest chefs to have another big impact on the exhibition here today!
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-As we approach the start bell for the final exhibition at Edelyn Cooking Arena here in Punta Gorda, it is intriguing to note the recent surges that three big name chefs have seen here.
Jim McAllister, Lisa Choi, and Daniel Settling never seem to flail here at Edelyn. McAllister's been in all but one exhibition here at Edelyn in the eleven years it's been used as an exhibitional site. Of 17 appearances here in this pyramidic cooking arena, he has placed in the top three in NCA points all but once and in the top two 14 times. He's been first in points 7 times at Edelyn and has won the Edelyn MVC five times. Choi has also benefited at Edelyn. Of 15 appearances, she's been in the top three 11 times and also has five MVCs from Punta Gorda. And Daniel Mettling, while a relatively new Feast Fest chef compared to McAllister and Choi, has had Edelyn been extremely kind to him in his five exhibitions here. He's been in the top three in points here thrice, and led in points and won the MVC here at Edelyn back in January.
Watch for these three Feast Fest chefs to have another big impact on the exhibition here today!
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