ACF honors Western chefsACF honors Western chefs

Lisa Jennings

ALBUQUERQUE N.M. Brandon Parry, an executive chef for the U.S. Navy in San Diego, was named chef of the year at the American Culinary Federation’s Western Regional Conference here this week.

Parry was one of a number of representatives of ACF chapters in the West who competed in the regional event, held Feb. 6-8 at the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque. Winners will go on to compete for titles at the federation's national convention, which will be held Aug. 2-5 in Anaheim, Calif.

Other winners at the Western regional event:

Pastry Chef of the Year: Tracy DeWitt, lead pastry chef instructor at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Chef Educator of the Year: Jeffrey Brown, associate professor at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Calif.

Hermann G. Rusch Chef’s Achievement Award: Jean Hull, owner of Jean’s Hospitality Consultant in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Chef Professionalism Award: Aran Essig, executive chef at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo.

Student Chef of the Year: Emily Wallace, a student at Renton Technical College in Renton, Wash.

The Baron H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl title was taken by a group from the International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California in San Diego that included Carlos Esparza, Lorian Koller, Megan Leppert, Evan Rossman and Virginia Vermeulen. The team was coached by Kelly Funes and Michael Zonfrilli.

The Student Team Regional Championship was won by a group from the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the Professional Culinary Institute in Campbell, Calif., including Girija Kaushik, Patricia Liu, Reilly Meehan, Khuong Nguyen and Tiffany Young. The team was coached by Randy Torres.

Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].