After eight seasons of hosting the Ultimate Chef Bergen County competition, Chef Central of Paramus is expanding the format to include chefs from the entire state. The Ultimate Chef New Jersey competition will take place each January.
Ultimate Chef will be an Iron-Chef style competition held at Chef Central’s cooking-school kitchen. Working with a “secret” ingredient, chefs will compete in front of an audience. A panel of judge, including master chefs from the Culinary Institute of America, will rate each dish and choose the winner of each successive round. The survivor of these eliminations will, in the final round, compete against the reigning champion from the prior year. Audience members get to sample each chef’s food.
The winner receives a trophy, a plaque on Chef Central’s Wall of Fame and bragging rights as Ultimate Chef New Jersey. The competition is sponsored by Whole Foods Markets.
Chefs interested in competing, or people wanting to nominate a chef to participate, should contact Chef Central’s culinary director Jim Edwards at [email protected].