GALLERY: Guy Fieri presides over a roster of celeb chefs (and their fans) at this year’s Chef’s Challenge
GALLERY: Guy Fieri presides over a roster of celeb chefs (and their fans) at this year’s Chef’s Challenge
By Caroline Aksich | December 3, 2012
By Caroline Aksich | 12/03/2012
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
Saturday’s Chef’s Challenge was a chance for Iron Chef wannabes—or “masochists,” as event host Guy Fieri called them—to flex their cooking talents on stage in front of 400 of their fellow food-loving philanthropists. The third annual fundraiser was in support of breast and ovarian cancer research at Mount Sinai hospital, and took place this year at the Royal York. This was no ordinary ticketed event—all attendees were required to raise a minimum of $2,500, with the top 50 broken up into groups of 10 led by a celebrity chef (Chuck Hughes, David Rocco, Mark McEwan, Lynn Crawford or Michael Smith) who coached them through three rounds of Iron Chef– inspired challenges (those not in the top 50 ate their Fieri-conceived five-course dinner in peace). For each round, Fieri decided on a secret ingredient and gave the teams 20 minutes to whip up a triplet of dishes to be judged by food critics. Last year’s challenge ended with Bobby Flay and Top Chef Canada host Lisa Ray swigging limoncello from the bottle, but this year was a little more sedate—perhaps Fieri was tuckered out after shooting six Toronto restaurants for his Diners, Drive-ins and Dives program and hanging out with Drake? In the end, Crawford’s team, which had won the inaugural challenge, recaptured first place from McEwan. After the silent and live actions closed, the event raised $775,000 for cancer research—and Toronto’s well-to-do culinary masochists got a moment onstage alongside some of their foodie heroes.
180425 Lynn Crawford recaptured the title she won in 2010 (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-intro-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-intro.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-intro.jpg 656 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-intro/ dec12-chefs-challenge-intro 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180423 The crowd of 400 onlookers (i.e., those who didn’t raise enough to make it on stage) (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-17-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-17.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-17.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-17/ dec12-chefs-challenge-17 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180422 Lynn Crawford with her team (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-16-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-16.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-16.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-16/ dec12-chefs-challenge-16 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180421 The pantry available to the contestants, whose celeb chef coaches were not actually allowed to touch the food (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-15-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-15.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-15.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-15/ dec12-chefs-challenge-15 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180413 Fieri’s demonstration beef tenderloin dish (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-01-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-01.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-01.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-01/ dec12-chefs-challenge-01 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180419 Michael Smith and his team (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-12-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-12.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-12.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-12/ dec12-chefs-challenge-12 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180418 Mark McEwan and his team (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-10-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-10.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-10.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-10/ dec12-chefs-challenge-10 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180417 David Rocco was <a href="http://twitter.com/jessieraeallen/status/275055633055756289">apparently unimpressed</a> at the lack of staple Italian ingredients like parmigiano reggiano (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-09-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-09.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-09.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-09/ dec12-chefs-challenge-09 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180416 Ruby Watcho’s Lynn Crawford and her team (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-08-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-08.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-08.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-08/ dec12-chefs-challenge-08 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180420 Bob Blumer of <em>Glutton for Punishment</em> hosted, while c5’s Corbin Tomaszeski acted as the auctioneer (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-13-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-13.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-13.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-13/ dec12-chefs-challenge-13 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180415 Chuck Hughes auctioned off the right to shave his Movember moustache for $5,000. Hughes told us plans for a Toronto restaurant were on ice due to fears the market in the city was over-saturated (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-06-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-06.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-06.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-06/ dec12-chefs-challenge-06 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
180414 Host Guy Fieri introducing Mark McEwan (Image: Caroline Aksich) Chef’s Challenge 2012 Chef’s Challenge 2012 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-05-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-05.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Chefs-Challenge-05.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/chefs-challenge-2012/slide/dec12-chefs-challenge-05/ dec12-chefs-challenge-05 0 0
(Image: Caroline Aksich)