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Oak Crests Iron Chef Barely Retains Title in Third Round

It was a battle between chefs just like what you see on Food Networks The Iron Chef television show. Reigning Iron Chef at Oak Crest Village Chad Wisner took on challenger Mark Lynch in Round Three of Oak Crests The Next Iron Chef competition on Thursday, Jan. 28. Wisner, head chef of the Oak Room, won the previous two competitions and was competing this time against Lynch, head chef of the Renaissance Gardens kitchens. Director of Dining Jack Barwick was the emcee for the event. Just like the TV show, the two chefs are given a secret ingredient and must create the best dishes using that ingredient. The chefs are given exactly one hour to create three courses, usually an appetizer, a main and a dessert, featuring the secret ingredient. Time is of the essence, and the chefs sometimes get a little too ambitious. The mystery ingredient for this competition was phyllo dough, a very thin pastry dough thats difficult to work with. The chefs quickly set about creating their dishes, such as pears poached in wine, salmon wrapped in the phyllo dough and crabmeat and goat cheese wrapped in the dough. Throughout the competition, it looked as though Chef Chad would handily win once again, as Chef Mark had a couple of mishaps like burning a pan of food and putting food into a fryer he was told was ready to go but which ended up being not on. Thats a wash, he said. But, of course, he had a back up plan and recovered quickly. When time was up, Barwick noted, This is the first time all the dishes are not completed. Chefs lose points for not finishing their dishes, which must be plated when time is called. Chef Mark ended up getting more of his stuff plated than Chef Chad, who hurriedly and messily threw his main on the plates, and only got three of the five desserts plated and none of the appetizers. Chef Mark only got two of his dishes plated as well, and it turned out that one of those didnt even contain the secret ingredient. He lost points because of that. The four judges, including residents Nancy Leggiadro, Bob Larkin and Pauline Williams plus myself as a guest judge, took their time tasting and evaluating the completed dishes. In the end though, Chef Chad pulled out the win yet again by a narrow .38 of a point. Rematch! cried the residents upon hearing the final score. And so, these two talented chefs will meet again in mid-March to compete for the title of Oak Crests Iron Chef. Will Chef Chad retain his title or will Chef Mark claim the victory next time around? Stay tuned...