Houston Community College, Culinary Institute LeNotre to compete in fast-paced contest

HOUSTON, April 19, 2010 — Two college culinary teams will wield knives and kitchen know-how Saturday, April 24, in a cooking competition modeled after the Japanese TV show "Iron Chef" and organized by the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management.

The cooking-competition teams from Houston Community College and Culinary Institute LeNotre in Houston will compete in a timed battle using secret ingredients, similar to the format popularized in the U.S. on the Food Network. The judges for the contest will include Glenn Cordúa y Cruz, director of the Wine & Spirits Management Institute, and Adam Rineer, director of catering and conference services for the Westin Galleria and Westin Oaks Hotels. The "Iron Chef" team at Hilton College organized the contest.

The evening also will feature a reception, tours of the newly renovated Hilton University of Houston, which opened earlier this month, demonstrations on flambé and napkin folding, wine tastings and a special demonstration on making garnish by the hotel's executive chef Abbas Jaffari.

The reception is at 5:30 p.m. in the College's first floor South Wing lobby and the competition starts at 7 p.m. in the College's Demonstration Kitchen, Room S116. The event is free, but the College's cooking team will accept donations to defray the cost of holding this event. 

Contact:
Debbie Maurer
713.743.5594
dkmaurer@uh.edu