Patton Signed

-Marina del Rey, Ca.
-In an unusually late-offseason string of signings and transactions, Feast Fest scouters signed their fifth new chef of the offseason, Miranda Morimota Patton on Wednesday.

FF had been courting Patton to revamp Asian influences in the kitchen after Ai Okoworth, the Japanese master, announced his resignation from the event in June.

Morimota Patton (9/3/80) was described by Head Scouter Jim Dall as "a rising chef who will do a masterful job of filling Ai's former role as a Japanese culinary master at our event." Dall revealed that FF had secretly negotiated with Morimota Patton in 2011 but that "negotiations had broken down."

"I am without words right now," Morimota Patton said via Skype. "I have followed Feast Fest for so long, and to be a part of it? I'm so grateful to Jim Dall, Stephanie McOneguew, and everyone who was a part of the scouting team who worked so tirelessly to get this deal done."

Morimota Patton, who is an assistant head chef at a Japanese 5-star in Vancouver, B.C., will make her first Feast Fest appearance on Aug. 31 at the Kitchen Stadium exhibition in--where else?--Tokyo. Morimota Patton, who is Canadian-born but who is of Japanese descent and who trained extensively in Japan, called it "appropriate." "I'm very excited."

The deal's details haven't been disclosed, but it is a one-year contract for $212,244.