Herald Neighbors

Cooking up some fun at Atria Lynbrook

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On July 16, shortly past noon, residents of Atria Senior Living in Lynbrook filled the courtyard on the side of the building under the hot sun. Their attention was turned to a shady corner of the courtyard, where various ingredients and utensils were stacked, ready for use in the 2018 Chef Showdown.

The Chef Showdown is an annual event in which an Atria chef competes with a member of the local community in a cooking competition. The event occurs in more than 200 Atria Senior Living facilities across the U.S. and Canada on the same day.

“It’s really great to be part of something so large,” said Dana Mori, executive director of Atria Lynbrook. “Atria prides itself in having special, engaging events for our residents … it’s an engaging opportunity for them to watch a chef show live.”

This year’s battle pitted Chef Brian Glennon of Atria Lynbrook against Andrew Winges of the FDNY and his wife, Beth. The two sides were tasked with presenting a pair of dishes to a panel of five judges, comprised of Mori, Daniel Applebaum, Lorraine Miller, teacher Debra Robbins-Jean, and Chef Linda Petrillo. The only requirement was that each dish include a predetermined special ingredient: tomatoes.

With the judges ready, Atria residents looking on and Lynbrook Mayor Alan Beach in attendance, the Wingeses were presented their first dish. They served the judges a classic dish of grilled cheese with a slice of tomato alongside tomato soup. As the judges dug in, they filled out a scoring sheet in which they assessed the dish in three areas: taste, plating, and creativity. Each sheet was worth 20 points, for a total of 100 possible points per dish from the five judges.

Glennon then followed with his first dish, which he prepared under an awning in front of the judges. The dish was a colorful salad comprised of tri-color heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, fresh greens and sundried tomato relish, all topped with a glaze of balsamic.

The Winges’ second dish, which was the highest-scoring item of the day with 95 points, was praised by the judges for its creativity and tastiness. The Wingeses prepared a sundried tomato scone served with tomato jam and tomato mascarpone cheese.

“I saw a recipe about the tomato jam and that inspired me to try to think of a way to incorporate it with a dessert takeoff of a tomato,” said Beth Winges. “That’s when I picked a simple scone, and that’s how the recipe came to life.”

Glennon finished the presentations with a marinated brown kumato tomato stuffed with breadcrumbs and topped with fried muenster cheese. Once the final dish was eaten and assessed, the scoresheets were all taken aside and the final scores were tabulated. With a final tally of 186 points to 174, the winners of the competition were declared to be the Wingeses.

Although Andrew and Beth edged out Glennon, the judges showed that they enjoyed each dish they were presented, as each one received a score of at least 80, and the average score was a 90. As the winners of the competition, the Wingeses received a new knife and cutting board.

“It feels great,” Andrew Winges said. “We did it last year and we had a lot of fun … it’s a lot of fun cooking for other people.”