The second annual Harvest Festival and Chef Showdown brought about many fresh fruit, vegetable, homemade bread, and natural fruit water vendors to the parking lot of Kaiser Permanente on Ming. There were also other vendors such as Javita Coffee Company and Flame and Skewers.

The Chef Showdown began around 11 a.m. and lasted until about 1:30 p.m.

The showdown consisted of three rounds in which two chefs from each restaurant competed. The competitors were from The Prime Cut Meats & Eats, The Padre Hotel, and Narducci’s Café.

The second round was the entrée round. Each team was provided with a basket of ingredients and could decide to make what they pleased to. The Prime Cut cooked a blackened whitefish over a leaf of kale, butternut squash caramelized in its own juice, and voodoo pasta topped with cheese.

The Padre made fettuccine pasta, mashed butternut squash, and kale.

Narducci’s Café made the whitefish seasoned with dill and lemon, butternut squash, and sautéed kale.

Judge and Chef Suzzanne said, “The ingredients that the chefs were all given for the challenge really and truly are to the consumer, usually, very much a mystery. What do you do with kale, what do you do with pomegranate juice? All of the pomegranate reductions we saw today, I could just swim in them.”

Before announcing the winner for the event, Judge David Womack said, “There is no way to choose and say that one is a clear outstanding winner here today.”

Judge Lisa Kruch and her two sons, Brady, 8, and Dylan, 5, shared one vote. She said, “My boys ate everything. They’ve eaten more vegetables the last two hours (than) they’ve eaten in the last two months.”

The winner for the 2013 Harvest Festival and Chef Showdown was The Padre Hotel.