- Marina del Rey, Calif.
- Second-year chef Ursula Elfman had the performance of a career during the Mock "Dress Rehearsal" Feast Fest on Tuesday, scoring 77 NCA points and leading a 71-chef pack. Elfman and other low-tier, newer chefs ruled the Dress Rehearsal, which is often a bellwether for how performances will go on Thanksgiving. For the past ten Feast Fests, all but nine chefs have had their Thursday NCA point total fall within 10 points of their Tuesday tally, meaning we probably can expect huge things from Elfman again over the next forty-eight hours.
Elfman's late surge in which she assembled 31 NCA points in the Dress Rehearsal's final hour combined with the tapered-off action of rookie Skarlett Uhaajhaiyjesen, who led with 42 points at the Rehearsal's midway point but only scraped together 19 in the final three and a half hours, sliding to 61, still an incredibly respectable number that the new hire was not expected to come close to.
Five-year chef Daniel Mettling came second in points scoring, at 74, and the first hierarchical chef to show up on the scoreboard was Jim McAllister, at 73. The Mason Duo had respective totals of 42 and 37 in a Rehearsal in which they saw low Times of Action due to juggling other commitments, but will obviously be devoting their full attention Thursday. Because the Dress Rehearsal does not receive an NCA score, chefs are freer to have low Times of Action, which can result in deductions during scored events such as the real Feast Fest Cooking Portion on Thursday.
The full top 20 placers:
*(H) denotes one of the seven hierarchical chefs.
ELFMAN - 77
METTLING - 74
MCALLISTER - 73
CHOI - 68
AVI - 67
STEPHAN - 67
LAW - 67
JURRJENS - 66
MATFLILIA - 65
PASIK - 63
OKOWORTH - 62
WHOLEHREH - 60
JAHSWHEICH - 59
YIIVITITIMAEV - 57
DUMAS - 57
BARTLETT - 55
MORIMOTA PATTON - 52
STEVENSON - 51
CRELLAS - 51
MONDE - 50
Other notables:
MCNEESE - 43
MASON - 42
OLSCHMEIRE - 40
MASON - 37
YMYKATERINA - 33
ROSS - 26
STILLWORTH - 21
CHU - 12
AIBER - 11
MOTHILY - 10
NacGNISSECORP - 7
PERSONN - 6
Alexei Aiber and Eric NacGnissecorp both spent most of their floor time conducting messenger roles to and from the Elevated Table, accounting for their low point totals. Fredrik Personn complained of complications at his kitchen station, as did 10-point Kevin Bough Mothily. Both stations were being examined for technical difficulties late Tuesday, and repairs will attempt to made on them before Thursday.
"The pilot light on my stove refused to work," Mothily said.
FF Wire Service
The NCA Feast Fest lives here