Sunday Night Chef Fights' Returns to the OC – December 5

CHEF DON SCHOENBURG VS. CHEF LINDSAY SMITH-ROSALES IN A BATTLE FOR CULINARY SUPREMACY

What better way to kick off the holiday season than with a knock-down, drag-out Sunday Night Chef Fight? Defending Champion Chef Don Schoenburg of The Lido Deck in Newport Beach will put his title on the line when he steps into the Standards of Excellence “Cul-Arena” to take on Nirvana Grille’s Chef and Owner Lindsay Smith-Rosales in the next Orange County Sunday Night Chef Fight cooking competition live Sunday December 5 at 6:00 p.m. at the Standards of Excellence showroom in Huntington Beach.

In case you missed the last Orange County Chef Fight in September, Chef Schoenburg defeated “Rock n’ Roll Chef” Phil Knoke of SteerCrazy International Grill & BBQ by split decision to claim the Orange County Sunday Night Chef Fight trophy and title of “Champion Chef of Orange County” in this high-stakes live cooking competition where the local audience gets to sample each chef’s creations and serves as judge, jury, and taste-cutioner.

Each Sunday Night Chef Fight is a fast-paced, no-holds-barred culinary showdown similar to popular cooking competition shows on TV, but with a few extra twists thrown in to entertain. Before each event, both chefs are given three base ingredients – a protein, vegetable, and grain/starch/dairy item – that must be included in their creations, a shopping allowance, and a week to plan and prep their dishes for the sixty members of the audience jury. Then, during the Chef Fight, each chef and his or her sous-chef will have only 30 minutes to cook and finish their dishes as well as incorporate a “mystery ingredient” into the mix while host Chris Kern peppers him or her with questions and keeps the audience apprised and entertained. The audience rates each chef’s creations in three categories, the totals are tallied at the end of the night, and one chef is crowned the winner, receives the Sunday Night Chef Fight’s trophy, the title of “Champion Chef of Orange County,” and the opportunity to defend his or her title against a new local chef challenger at the next Orange County Sunday Night Chef Fight in March 2011.

Each Sunday Night Chef Fight also includes as an “undercard” bout Vino Vidi Vici, a blind wine tasting competition in which all audience members taste three themed but unlabeled wines, select a favorite, and then have the opportunity to purchase either the winner or the wines they liked best. The name and varietal of each bottle will be revealed over the course of the Chef Fight.

Tickets are currently on sale at SundayNightChefFights.com for the December 5th Orange County Sunday Night Chef Fight, which begins promptly at 6:00 p.m. sharp. The Standards of Excellence showroom in Huntington Beach is located at 16001 Gothard Street, on the corner of Gothard and Edinger. General Seating tickets are $50 per person, which includes the competition, samples of both chef’s creations, and one pour of each Vino Vidi Vici wine, while a limited number of VIP Front Row seating is also available for $75 per person, which includes the best seating in the house for the Chef Fight, priority service, larger portions of each chef’s creations, and two pours of each Vino Vidi Vici wine.