Guest Chef on the Waterfront Winner!

Each year, Seattle DINING! sponsors the judges table at Guest Chef on the Waterfront (GCOW). A group of food writers tastes every food item and chooses a winner in three categories: appetizer, entrée and dessert. One of those is chosen as overall winner. We write the overall winner's story so you can learn all about them. This year's winners were Bell Harbor International Conference Center—appetizer, Washington State Convention Center—entrée, and Barking Frog—dessert. We'll have all three winning recipes for you to try out; see the links on the home page.

The culinary team at the Convention Center pulled off the win this year with their halibut ceviche, mango and avocado. As Executive Chef José Chavez explains, ceviche is really a Peruvian dish and is not made with halibut or avocado or mango. Mexican ceviche will often use avocado, but not halibut or mango. And the Convention Center has a ceviche in their repertoire, but nothing like the one they made for GCOW. "We've done this event for a number of years and I'm always trying to come up with something new," Chef Chavez says. "This year, I just ran out of ideas. I was helping with an event for 13,000 people in Anaheim and saw the product I was working with: halibut, mango, avocado. I thought ‘all these ingredients taste good together—I'll do a different twist on ceviche!' and that was it."

Chef Chavez with the clipboards that help keep the team organized (one day alone could be 1/4 inch thick)

Chef's culinary team includes Mayra Melka-Baldwin, Chef de Cuisine; Brooks Magnuson, Executive Sous Chef; and Alex Shroff, Pastry Chef. Alex was not involved in the GCOW event this year since there was no pastry involved (someone had to stay in the kitchen!). All work for ARAMARK, the Washington State Convention Center's exclusive food, beverage and catering partner.

Getting ready for an event like GCOW takes planning and time for everyone; they're all running their businesses simultaneously. But we think the Convention Center probably takes the title in the "what else was going on that day" category. Chef Chavez was in Phoenix doing the food for the VIP pre- and post-All Star game receptions. He went from the airport to the Convention Center to see how things were going with the 900+ person plated lunch and the 1500-person afternoon reception. Then they went to GCOW. That's a lot of food in one day.

How they do it is more easily understood when you know their backgrounds. José started cooking at 18 in a Mexican restaurant. In 1980, after three years, he took a prep cook job at the Olympic Hotel (then owned by the Four Seasons) and stayed 19 years, working through every kitchen position. He worked with chefs Ludger Szmania, Kerry Sear and Gavin Stephenson. "I worked there in the mid-90s when it was really the heyday of the dot commers. We were busy all the time," he recalls. A recruiter called him and told him about a job at the Convention Center. He wanted to lead his own kitchen and he's a Seattle-ite who didn't want to leave town. The Convention Center job fit his needs perfectly. He was hired in 2003. Jose received his Culinary Institute of America certification in 2008.

Mayra came to the Convention Center in 1999 after seven years at Salish Lodge & Spa where she started as an ACF Chef's Apprentice and worked her way into the Sous Chef position. She was hired at the Convention Center as the Executive Sous Chef, spent seven months as the Executive Chef Interim prior to Chef Chavez arriving and then became Chef de Cuisine. Her background includes attendance at Lake Washington Technical College and her first three years at Salish apprenticing under Master Chef David Kellaway. She recently received her certification as Chef de Cuisine through the Culinary Institute of America.

Brooks came to the Convention Center in September of 2001. He began cooking at 18 in Minneapolis at a local restaurant where he stayed for five years. He spent eight seasons cooking in Denali National Park. He has cooked for his dad who owns a small café in Minneapolis and spent two years at a small brew pub in Portland, Oregon. He has worked in Breckenridge and Telluride, Colorado, and as a civilian contractor in Bavaria for the Armed Forces Recreation Center which runs resorts for NATO personnel. He also worked the last two Olympics, spending 10 weeks in Beijing and a month in Vancouver, B.C.

Above: Mayra (left), Brooks (right) at GCOW 2011

They are long-time supporters of FareStart. "Guest Chef nights are great because you get to create a menu just for that one night—there's no theme. You get to show the students new things and that's interesting," says Brooks. José agrees. "I like cooking for people and it makes me feel good to pass my experience on."

Since they don't have a restaurant you can visit, what they'd like you to know is what they do on a daily basis. "Our team has changed the whole concept of large catering," says Chef Chavez. "Mayra and I were from 4 and 5 star restaurants. We're perfectionists. While we understand that with these volumes we can't be perfectionists, we have taken the level of food to a new level. Our Convention Center is one of the best in the country." Chef Brooks agrees. "This is not your average banquet food; we strive for top quality no matter what size event."

Volumes are amazing. For example, they have 5000 sheet pans and they go through every last one in two days. Twice a year, they handle meals for a group that is 5,000 strong: breakfast, lunch, reception, dinner. It's an international group that includes special needs. About 20% of this group's meals are special—kosher, halal, gluten-free, diabetic, vegan, vegetarian, kosher-vegetarian, etc. That's about 700 special meals. José has multiple clipboards hanging in his office that have details on each day's events. Their cold and dry storage areas are huge compared to most restaurants, but as José says "they're still not big enough for the large events."

Convention Center event-goers can continue to count on high-quality food coming out of the kitchen. "We know what we're doing," says José. "We have a strong team that runs our place very well and always puts our best foot forward. We like good food and are happy making it."

Congratulations to the team for their win!

Click here to see their winning recipe!

Connie Adams/August-September 2011