Press Release
The U.S.A.’s Chef of the Year™ to Be Named in July
St. Augustine, Fla., June 10,
2004—Four chefs are contenders for the highest culinary
honor in the United States, to be determined by cook-off at the American
Culinary Federation’s 2004 national convention at the Orlando
World Center Marriott in Orlando, Fla., on Monday, July 19.
Earlier this year, each chef was named chef of the year of his
respective U.S. region.
Central
Friedrich F. “Fritz” Gitschner is one of only 59
master chefs certified by ACF. He has been executive chef of Country
Club of Houston since 1991, and is also a foodservice consultant through
his Houston-based company, Culinary Blueprints. Gitschner trained as a
culinary apprentice in Vienna in his native Austria; his career led him
to kitchens at five-star hotels in Europe, the Middle East, Bermuda and
the Caribbean. Most recently, through a national cook-off, Gitschner
earned the honor of representing the United States against 23 nations in
the 2005 Bocuse d’Or World Cuisine Contest in Lyon, France, in
January. He is a member of ACF’s honor society, the American
Academy of Chefs.
Northeast
J. Daniel Knerr, an ACF-certified executive chef, has served as
executive chef of Black Pearl in Newport, R.I., for 19 years. He trained
and worked with chefs of such world-renowned restaurants as Le Bec-Fin
in Philadelphia, La Côte Basque in New York, Moulin de Mougins in
southern France, Restaurant Taillevent in Paris and The French Laundry
in California’s Napa Valley. While head chef of The Black Bass
Hotel in Lumberville, Pa., Knerr’s cooking received three stars
from The New York Times. Besides membership in the American Academy of
Chefs, Knerr is a member of Le Amis d’Escoffier Society and
Confrerie de la Chaînes des Rotisseurs. He is president of ACF
Rhode Island Chapter and sits on the advisory board of the Newport Area
Career and Technical Center.
West
Kenneth J. McNamee is executive chef of Columbia Tower Club on
the 75th and 76th floors of the Bank of America tower in Seattle.
McNamee began his career in 1984 when he joined award-winning
Salty’s, Portland, Ore., as an apprentice through ACF’s
Apprenticeship Training Program for Cooks and Pastry Cooks. After
additional training that placed him at top hotels in Australia, McNamee
returned to the United States in 1994 to assume the post of executive
sous chef at Columbia Tower Club owned by Dallas-based Club Corp. He was
promoted to executive chef three years later. He sits on the advisory
boards of several Seattle-area culinary-training programs and is a
staunch supporter of local charitable causes.
Southeast
John Saundry, a certified executive chef and member of the
American Academy of Chefs, has been executive chef of Mariner Sands
Country Club in Stuart, Fla., since 1993. A 1983 graduate of The
Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y., Saundry has won more
than 30 medals in culinary competition throughout his career, and has
placed first in several state and national cook-offs. He was named chef
of the year of South Florida’s ACF Treasure Coast Chapter in 1991
and ACF Palm Beach County Chefs Association in 1995. In 1998, he was
among a handful of chefs to receive a medallion of distinction from the
president of the American Culinary Federation.
ACF launched its Chef of the Year Award in 1963 as its highest honor
to recognize outstanding efforts to promote and elevate the culinary
profession in the United States. Next month in Orlando, each chef will
have two hours and 15 minutes to prepare and serve four portions of a
three-course meal (soup, appetizer and entrée) from scratch under
the watchful eyes of 1,500 of their peers. The jury will be composed of
professional culinary judges, foodservice-industry leaders and members
of the news media, who will base their evaluations on culinary skills
and tasting. The chef with the highest cumulative score will win
ACF’s Chef of the Year award and $5,000, and will become the
U.S.A.’s Chef of the Year™ for 2004. ACF’s Chef of the
Year competition and award are sponsored by UBF Foodsolutions North
America, Lisle, Ill.
The American Culinary Federation, Inc., celebrating its 75th
anniversary in 2004, establishes and upholds the highest standards of
cooking, thereby making a positive difference for culinarians
internationally through education and creation of a fraternal bond of
respect and integrity.
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Note to editors: Digital head shots of Chef of the Year candidates
are available.
Contact: Lisa Alessandro, APR
(904) 824-4468, ext. 103
lalessandro@acfchefs.net
