Creekstone
Farms Premium Beef, an established leader in supplying premium
USDA-certified beef and pork products, returns this year as the
presenting sponsor of the “Chef Showdown” at the Sixth Annual Taste of
Derby, the Official Kentucky Derby Event of Churchill Downs, which
kicks-off Derby weekend on Thursday, April 30, 2015, in the North Wing
Lobby at the Kentucky Exposition Center. The celebrated Kentucky Oaks
Eve event will feature 25 nationally recognized chefs who will prepare
samples of their regional specialties. Four world-renowned celebrity
chefs will come together at the 20-minute showdown competition to judge
three culinary student finalists from Sullivan University as they
compete for a $5,000 scholarship presented by Creekstone Farms.
“We are excited to partner with Taste of Derby again this year and
provide Creekstone Farms’ high-quality products at this nationally
revered event,” said Jim Rogers, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
for Creekstone Farms. “Along with Taste of Derby, we are pleased to
announce an all-star lineup for this year’s celebrity chef judges, and
are tremendously proud of the three culinary student chefs, as they have
already accomplished so much to make it to this stage.”
The 2015 celebrity-judging panel and emcee includes:
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Chef Kevin Gillespie
Gillespie is the owner of Gunshow in
Atlanta’s Glenwood Park neighborhood. Previously, Gillespie held
different positions at several well-known restaurants in Atlanta and
Portland, OR, before joining the sixth season of Bravo’s Top Chef,
where he emerged as a semifinalist and fan favorite. Additionally,
Gillespie’s has been named a semifinalist for the James Beard
Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year award for three consecutive
years, and his second cookbook, Pure Pork Awesomeness, was
released in March 2015. This is Gillespie’s first appearance at Taste
of Derby.
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Chef Chris Cosentino
Chris Cosentino, aka @OffalChris,
is the chef and co-owner of Cockscomb restaurant in San
Francisco. Cosentino is also the co-creator and chef of Boccalone
artisanal salumeria and has gained international recognition as a
leading expert and proponent of offal cooking. He has been notably
featured on the Food Network and is the Season 4 winner of Bravo's Top
Chef Masters series, earning over $140,000 for the Michael J. Fox
foundation for Parkinson's research. Cosentino's first cookbook Beginnings:
My Way to Start a Meal from Olive Press media debuted in 2012 and
he is currently working on a title dedicated to offal with writer and
photographer Michael Harlan Turkell, to be published by Clarkson
Potter in 2016.
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Chef Tim Love
Love is the owner of several urban-western
cuisine restaurants in Texas, including Lonesome Dove Western Bistro,
Woodshed Smokehouse, Love Shack, White Elephant Saloon and Queenie’s
Steakhouse. He is a founding partner of the Austin FOOD & WINE
Festival and official chef of Austin City Limits. Love is currently a
co-host of CNBC’s newest show, Restaurant Startup, and is a
returning Taste of Derby Showdown judge from last year.
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Chef Brooke Williamson
Williamson is co-owner of Hudson
House, The Tripel and Playa Provisions in the southern California
area. Williamson is the youngest female chef to cook at the James
Beard House, and is also certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers.
She recently placed runner-up on Top Chef Season 10 in Seattle
and starred as host on MTV’s House of Food.
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Dawn Perry (Emcee)
Perry is the Digital Food Editor at Bon
Appétit. Perry has been influential in fueling the brand's
digital growth through popular columns such as “BA’s Best,” which has
quickly become a destination for ultimate classic recipes. She is also
the lead recipe developer on Bon Appétit’s collaboration with
IBM’s Chef Watson. Perry makes regular media appearances including
segments on TODAY, CBS This Morning and New York Live.
Creekstone Farms is proud to serve as sponsor for the fifth consecutive
year for Taste of Derby, which offers an evening filled with exquisite
cuisine, exceptional wine and live entertainment to attendees.
Creekstone Farms’ USDA-certified products are supplied and prepared at
several of the chef stations throughout the event, including
Creekstone’s Black Angus Beef and the new addition of the Creekstone
Farms Antibiotic-Free Duroc Pork product line.
The anticipated Chef Showdown begins at 8:30 p.m., when the three
culinary students will use the newly introduced Creekstone Farms’
Antibiotic-Free Duroc Pork tenderloin in the challenge to create an
award-winning dish in under 20 minutes for the panel of celebrity
judges. The student who prepares the best dish based on taste,
creativity and presentation will win a $5,000 Sullivan University
scholarship and gain bragging rights of being the new Chef Showdown
champion.
For more info on Taste of Derby and to purchase tickets, visit www.churchilldowns.com/tickets/taste.
About Creekstone Farms Premium Beef
The choice of food lovers across the world, Creekstone Farms Premium
Beef LLC is USDA-certified by the Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS)
and supplies many of the nation’s top grocers and restaurants with a
variety of high-quality meat products, including Black Angus Beef,
Antibiotic-Free Duroc Pork and their value-added products. Creekstone
Farms exports its premium quality products to Europe, Latin America and
Asia, and is owned by Sun Capital Partners, one of America’s largest
private investment companies.
To learn more about Creekstone Farms, please contact Christine Tanner at
620-741-3357 or email angusinfo@cfpbeef.com.
About Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs, the world’s most legendary racetrack, has conducted
Thoroughbred racing and presented America’s greatest race, the Kentucky
Derby, continuously since 1875. Located in Louisville, the flagship
racetrack of Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ: CHDN), which offers
year-round simulcast wagering at the historic track. Churchill Downs
will conduct the 141st running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum!
Brands on May 2, 2015. The track’s 2015 Spring Meet is scheduled for
April 25-June 27. The track has hosted the Breeders’ Cup World
Championships a record eight times. Information about Churchill Downs
can be found on the Internet at http://www.kentuckyderby.com/tasteofderby.
Copyright Business Wire 2015