I don’t think anyone really expected the American team to take a medal at this year’s Bocuse d’Or competition in Lyon, France. But I think they were hoping for better than sixth place. As it turns out, Timothy Hollingsworth, the 28-year-old sous chef at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley, could only equal the United States team’s previous best.
The winner of the competition, which, like the Olympics, is held bi-annually, was Geir Skeie of Norway. Jonas Lundgren of Sweden too the silver and France’s Phillippe Mille took the bronze, a serious disappointment to the French who usually place first or second.
Here’s the New York Times’ accounting of the competition.
Take what they say with a grain of salt (fleur de sel preferred): in Wednesday’s print edition, Jerome Bocuse was identified as the chef of his father’s restaurant at Epcot. Jerome Bocuse is the manager of Les Chefs de France in the France pavilion: Bruno Vrignon is the executive chef.
The American finals for the competition were held at Epcot in September as part of the opening weekend festivities of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. The event was, by most accounts, a huge success and will return in 2010. Start saving up now to attend the gala dinner that concluded the weekend.