Executive Chef John Clark and Sous Chef Anthony Eads won the Best Overall Grand Champion Gold medal and a Gold medal in the Appetizer Category at the 35th annual West Coast Oyster Shucking Championship and Washington State Seafood Festival. The culinary team at Mill Creek, an OB Sports property, will also oversee a “Focus on Farming” luncheon for 500 farmers on November 3rd that will feature products grown or raised in Washington state.
Mill Creek (Wash.) Country Club’s Executive Chef John Clark and Sous Chef Anthony Eads won the Best Overall Grand Champion Gold medal, as well as a Gold medal in the Appetizer Category, at the 35th Annual West Coast Oyster Shucking Championship and Washington State Seafood Festival on October 2nd, the club announced. Also known as “Oysterfest,” the competition draws 35,000 visitors each year to Shelton, Wash.
“We are extremely proud to have earned this award as a team, especially representing the outstanding membership at Mill Creek Country Club,” said Clark, who improved on his Appetizer Category Silver Medal finish the prior year with Eads. “Anthony and I work hard to prepare for this event, and it’s great to earn the two Gold Medals as a reward.”
“Our membership is extremely fortunate to have John and Anthony preparing such amazing food on a regular basis,” said Cory Casper, PGA, Mill Creek’s General Manager and Director of Golf. “They are two of the best in the business at what they do, and I’m not surprised in the least to see the success they routinely earn.”
Clark and Eads’ winning appetizer was a dish consisting of coconut-crusted oysters, jicama-serrano slaw, kumquat rum sauce and mirin-glazed ginger chips.
“A proud moment was when the judges informed us that our recipe was almost so perfect they could not find anything wrong with it,” Clark said. “[Our final score] was 99%, due to a one-point [deduction for a] ginger chip was not crispy enough. Officials told us it was the second-highest score in 35 years of the competition.”
The winning appetizer will now be offered at The Grille at Mill Creek throughout the winter as a special, Casper said.
Clark also reported that the culinary team at Mill Creek, which is managed by OB Sports, has also been asked to once again oversee a “Focus on Farming” luncheon on November 3rd for over 500 farmers from the state of Washington. All products featured at the luncheon are grown and raised in the state. “It is a chance to show the farmers that we are thankful for what they do for our businesses and families,” Clark said.
The menu for this year’s luncheon, Clark added, will feature these dishes:
- Jamaican carrot bisque
- Mixed greens with roasted pepper vinaigrette
- Pork Polpettone (stuffed with spinach and squash and finished with Salsa alla Crema di Granturco, a sweet corn sauce)
- Roasted rally seasoned potatoes
- Roasted beets
- Mini-sugar pie pumpkin cheesecakes
Mill Creek Country Club, a private, member-owned club located 20 miles north of Seattle, features a golf course designed by Ted Robinson in 1975.
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