'The most beneficial thing I did in my career'

At precisely 7pm the night before the unveiling of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2024, seven chefs came together at Don’s Prime in the Fontainebleau Resort and Casino to serve a dinner imbued with clever references to the glittering casinos that dot the Las Vegas Strip. Brian Canlis, co-owner of Seattle’s legendary, multi-generational Canlis, played host.

The night began with chef Daniel Garwood (Acru) and his grilled Blue Point oysters with spice bark oil, quivering with seaweed jelly and an oyster emulsion. Real oysters were set inside cradle-sized platters that resembled silver oysters, the effect mimicking that of a Salvador Dali painting, but more edible. Servers also dispensed platters of wonton shell tartlets, filled with caramelized cream, turnip, and topped with a perfect quenelle of glittering Calvisius Siberian Royal Caviar.

As we clutched glasses of bubbles paired with Garwood’s courses and found our seats, marked with decks of cards calligraphed with our names, chef Chintan Pandya (Unapologetic Foods), instructed us to wrap sesame leaves around his prawn mousse, dotted with red and black emulsions of ‘hari chutney’ and ‘namak para’ (below).

Chef Charlie Mitchell (Clover Hill) took the words ‘royal’ and ‘flush’ literally to the point of cleverness. His three tarts were filled with Hokkaido scallops, BBQ prawns, and marinated salmon with collard greens. “Food that was once flushed back to the ocean, now seen as royal,” he said.

Next up, chef Emma Bengtsson (Aquavit) made two dices for her course, a smoked celeriac mousse with black truffle and a white asparagus tartare with black garlic puree. “I am combining my pastry and savory skills. Making two white dice and together they’ll create the number seven,” she said.

Canlis Executive Chef Aisha Ibrahim’s tripartite course, which came next, took my breath away. “It is a vibrant final savory course centered around chicken ‘piaparan’ with a scallop and palapa mousse, piaparan broth with lightly smoked halibut, and a special Dungeness crab and palapa rice,” said Ibrahim of the dish.

For dessert Eunji Lee created a Double Diamond (above), one made with a toasted brown rice mousse, pecan, and caramel, the signature dessert at her ‘pastry boutique’ Lysée, the other with coconut mousse, a pineapple-Thai basil compote with calamansi cream, and rosé Champagne gelée.

For the final course of the night, servers presented diners with pearlescent spoons and dollops of caviar, to be consumed with the poker chips Mitchell Lienhard (Dinex’s One Madison) fashioned from brown butter caramel, coffee ganache, and gianduja.

What was apparent throughout the night was a collaborative ethos as the seven chefs worked together to produce a casino-themed dinner of the highest caliber. The majority of chefs in the room were alumni of another collaborative experience, the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition. So I took the opportunity to ask the chefs who have participated in the Competition, which culminates with a Grand Finale every two years in Milan, why young chefs should apply for the 2024-25 edition, applications for which close on 19 June 2024.

_{Left to right: Charlie Mitchell, Chintan Pandya, Emma Bengtsson, Mitchell Lienhard, Daniel Garwood, Eunji Lee, and Aisha Ibrahim.}

Daniel Garwood

“Probably the most beneficial thing I did in my career, as far as extracurricular activities, is doing that SPYCA Competition and all the other [ensuing] opportunities that then came my way," said Garwood, a global finalist in 2023. “Learning what you can achieve by doing your own food, especially as you’re working as a sous chef or a junior chef—you get the opportunity to do your own dishes, refine them, and serve them to the most talented culinary minds in the world.”

Emma Bengtsson

Bengtsson was a judge in 2016. In the years since, she’s hired a chef whom she judged in the competition, illustrating how relationships are fostered through the process. “It felt super fun to be able to judge and see the younger generation explore and do new ideas, but I got a sense the importance for mentorship is very much needed and strong. I’m looking forward to one day convincing one of my cooks to get the nerve to do it.”

Aisha Ibrahim

“The panel for our region is diverse and I am hopeful to draw a more diverse generation forward to compete as we seek to push the envelope for a more diverse representation of what American fine dining is and where it is going,” said Ibrahim, who is a juror at the forthcoming USA Regional Final for the 2024-25 edition. “Growth in cooking in technical skills is quite difficult to quantify. As a former athlete, metrics were something I paid close attention to with game tapes, performance metrics in stats, and I have been able to find my own ways to do that with cooking. This competition is a very unique way to compete on a stage that allows a young chef to create and execute a vision that represents where they are in their career and there are just not many opportunities to be creative in professional cooking when you are still on the rise.”

Mitchell Lienhard

Lienhard won the Competition in 2016. “It was a really amazing opportunity to meet so many chefs that I respected for so long who were mentors, but then there were all the chefs I got to compete with! We’ve all kept very close. We talk to each pretty frequently and around each competition, it just continues to build and build. You meet more people, see more food from around the world.” I asked Leinhard if he’s collaborated with his fellow competitors since and he said, “At this point, I’ve cooked all over the world with many different competitors and, also chefs who were mentors. I’ve been to Australia, Singapore, Ireland, all over Italy. It’s been really amazing, all the opportunities that have they’ve let me have.”