Vancouver Chef Takes Silver Medal at National Competition

Vancouver Chef Takes Silver Medal at National Competition

Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar’s culinary brigade, under the visionary leadership of Executive Chef Alex Chen, added yet another accolade to its already impressive resume this past weekend when Chef de Partie Nathan Sundeen was awarded the silver medal at Canada’s 2017 Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Jeunes Chefs National culinary competition finals in Ottawa.

Sundeen, 26, earned the right to join seven other up-and-coming young chefs from across Canada last week after winning top spot for Vancouver at the Jeune Chefs regional competition in April. Since then, Sundeen has been honing his craft under the direction of his mentor Chef Chen – himself a multiple international culinary award winner – in preparation for the national event.

During this year’s Jeunes Chefs competition, each contestant was given the identical “black box” of basic ingredients, which they then used to compose and execute a three-course menu (first course, main course and dessert) for four people within a three-hour period. Twelve tasting judges awarded points based on taste, presentation and originality, while two kitchen judges rated each contestant on their cleanliness and organization in the kitchen. This year’s black box ingredients were sea bass, scallops, squid ink, guinea fowl, ground lean veal and black chocolate.

The Jeunes Chefs program is a global initiative of the Paris-based Chaîne des Rôtisseurs international gastronomic society, which has both a National office and regional chapters across Canada. The purpose of the Jeunes Chefs is to inspire and nurture tomorrow’s culinary professionals through dedicated mentorship from leading chefs and the promotion excellence through world-class competition.

“Nathan came to the Jeune Chefs national finals well prepared,” says Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Provincial Bailli for British Columbia Dr. Jane Ruddick. “I know he had tremendous support from Chef Chen and the team at Boulevard, and that’s what this competition is all about – developing and celebrating excellence in our young chefs.”

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