Lunch was served with a bang at The Servery at the Dining Commons as two competitors faced off at the Battle of the Chefs semifinal on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
The annual event is administered by Aramark, a company based in food and facilities service providing, drawing chefs from various campuses throughout the United States to compete in the culinary showdown.
Sac State students flocked to the Dining Commons to witness the live judging event and try the two dishes themselves. After sampling each dish, students were encouraged to cast their votes to crown the champion of the competition.
Some students, like freshman kinesiology major Darla May Dela Torre, said they were surprised by the appearance of the day’s new and intriguing menu as they entered the Dining Commons.
“I think they’re doing a little chef competition here at the dining commons,” Dela Torre said. “It looks like I’m having some salmon and potatoes. We’ll see how it tastes.”
Chefs Carlos Aguilar and Juan Villanueva each served their unique dishes using their cultural backgrounds, relationships and culinary prowess as inspiration while following the competition’s theme, “Battle Salmon.”
Chef Aguilar, guided by intuition, high-pressured tenacity and his knack for complex Mexican flavors, created his dish, the “Salmon Cascabel.” The dish featured ingredients such as cascabel chilies, beets and chamoy, a Mexican condiment made of pickled fruit.
“I like to put a Mexican twist on whatever I think of,” Aguilar said. “I added the whole sweet, sour and spicy thing, that’s what I’m trying to go for.”
Aguilar represented University of California, Irvine as a chef for one of the university’s dining halls, The Anteatery. Aguilar has been serving meals for the campus for over two years.
Before dishing out meals at UCI, Aguilar had left the culinary scene for three years following a motorcycle accident that left him injured. He worked in construction for those three years before rediscovering his passion in the culinary arts.
“I got tired of doing construction, it was really hard work,” Aguilar said. “I just felt like I had to go back to what was fun originally. I’m already ten years in, why am I going to waste those ten years?”
Aguilar was feeling unsure about whether he would move on to the next bracket, but felt encouraged by the constant stream of pressure.
“That’s what keeps me going,” Aguilar said. “If I feel comfortable, then that’s not good. But if I’m uncomfortable the whole time, I’m better. That’s just how I function.”
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Villanueva went against Aguilar for the semifinalist position, noting his relationship with his team, love for diverse culinary techniques and cuisines outside of his own. Taking inspiration from these elements, he presented his dish, “Mar y Tierra,” meaning “Sea and Land” in Spanish.
The dish featured ingredients such as crunchy rice, citrus-infused beets, silk beet purée and a teriyaki and pineapple glaze. The salmon was smoked before a sous vide method was used to complete the dish.
“I wanted to incorporate one item several different ways, not just grill a salmon and throw some sauce on it,“ Villanueva said. “I wanted to recreate it, reconstruct it and come up with something beautiful.”
Although Villanueva is from Michoacán, Mexico and embraced the use of Hispanic flavors in his dishes, the chef took special pride in defying the boundaries of cultural familiarity and tradition.
“I don’t want that to signify what kind of food that I can make,” Villanueva said. “I am very diverse in different foods.”
Villanueva said that he did not receive much culinary schooling and started his career as a dishwasher, honing his skills over time by observing and learning from other chefs to become the head chef for California State University Dominguez Hills, whom he represents.
After the judges sampled his dish, Villanueva remained optimistic of his chances of making it into the championship round.
“I shot for the stars,” Villanueva said. “This is all a new experience for me, I’ve never been to this level in a competition. So it’s different, unique, nervous and exciting at the same time.”
After student votes and the judges’ scores were tallied, Chef Villanueva was declared the official winner of the competition, and will be moving on to the championship at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
