Young Chefs Win Big Slice of Contest Pie

Young San Fernando Valley chefs took home nearly one-third of the $100,000 in scholarships awarded Monday by the New York-based Careers through Culinary Arts Program.

At a breakfast ceremony in West Hollywood honoring 15 finalists in C-CAP’s cooking competition, Monroe High School senior Tenisha Hall was the big Valley winner, earning $22,760 to attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.

Two senior classmates from her North Hills school, Omar Rivera and Araceli Miranda, received a $7,000 scholarship from the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vt., and $500 from Mission College in Sylmar.

Jose Figueroa, one of three finalists from Sylmar High, won $1,000 from Los Angeles Trade Technical College.

During the competition held Friday at L.A. Trade Technical College downtown, entrants cooked identical meals--poached guinea hen with chive sauce and vegetables, crepes and chocolate sauce for dessert--and participated in interviews with C-CAP officials and professional chefs.

Judges rated students according to their dress, knife skills, speed, confidence, cleanliness and knowledge, and scored their creations on taste and presentation.

The biggest scholarship, $40,000 for Johnson and Wales University in Miami, went to Christine Staggs of Narbonne High School in Harbor City.

After finishing up Friday, Hall explained how she developed a yen for cooking while attending Monroe’s law and government magnet.

“At first I really wanted to be an attorney, but then I started noticing how food was prepared and I thought, ‘You know what? I can do this,’ ” she said.

C-CAP, which held its first competition in New York in 1990, has expanded to seven major cities and now draws from 190 public schools.