The finale to the Long Beach Grand Prix Fixe is sold out. There currently is a waiting list; to be added, email brian.addison@gmail.com
It has been a battle that has stretched across the past two months at Partake Collective in DTLB, pitting Long Beach’s finest culinary talents against one another in a bracket-style competition unlike anything the city has seen. We saw titans face each other—like last week’s semifinals, where we saw Chef Luis Navarro of Lola’s defeat Chef Jason Witzl of Ellie’s. We saw relatively new-school talents face off—like Chef Max Pfeiffer’s defeat of Chef Waldo Stout early in the competition.
And now, the finale will be a tale of Long Beach history zones as we have the OG that is Chef Luis Navarro face off against the newly minted head of Sky Room, Chef Max Pfeiffer. For the first bracket, we had the chefs look to their forming years. In the semifinals, they were to examine fusion food. For the finale? It’s all about the flex.
“It’s really an honor to be moving forward,” Chef Max said. “Each dinner has been a reflection of my team—that’s for certain. And for each of us, it’s been a genuinely great way to create something outside of the restaurant. Here, the playing field is just different. We have more freedom. We have more wiggle-room for experimentation.”
Let’s take a look into the final semifinal competition between Chef Jason Winters of Speak Cheezy and Chef Max.
The fight for fusion amid two chefs with much to prove.
If there was a battle within the competition that featured two chefs with something to prove, it was this final semifinal.
Chef Max and Chef Jason come from two very different situations, albeit with similar strands woven between. For Chef Max, he is at the world’s most recognizable hotel brand when it comes to the culinary arts—but not an owner of that restaurant. And that means the privileges of owning a restaurant during the competition are left by the wayside.
For Chef Jason, he is seen as little more than a pizzaiolo in the Long Beach food scene—and that is no dig: his pizzeria has been nationally recognized and is one of the most loved pie joints in the city. But people forget that his training comes from some of the best kitchens in SoCal, including that of his mentor, Chef Suzanne Goin. And the people of Long Beach have never really experienced his food outside of pizza.
“I want to let folks know how important this is for everybody,” Chef Jason said. “Obviously, it has ignited a fire within myself—and I am hoping it did the same for others. If it’s something that continues, it will continue to inspire the chefs and our community.”
The Long Beach Grand Prix Fixe semifinals are all about fusion cuisine—and Chef Max, according to patrons, took the concept to a different level.
If there was any diametrically opposed conceptions of “fusion food,” it was Chef Max and Chef Jason’s menus.
Chef Max went literally conceptual, asking where the heart of fusion food lies—and for him, that is within comfort. In all forms of greatly executed fusion food, there sits a bit of nostalgia and childhood comfort. And for Chef Max, nothing exudes that more than the American diner, where plates of fried chicken sit next pot roasts and apple pies.
With that, he melded his love of French-centric elevated dining with, well, the diner. Wittily and appropriately named “Fine Diner”—a name I suggest he trademark ASAP and actually turn into his own space—Chef Max played with comfort and luxury on a level that patrons fell for.
Truffle-topped hollandaise atop a soft-boiled egg and potato croquette. 48-hour short rib with piped potato mousse—”loaded,” as his menu stated, with dots of crème fraîche and bits of lardon—and glazed carrots—each topped with mini-mounds of pureed carrots and carrot top-green goddess dressing. One of the most beautifully deconstructed apple pies this side of the Mississippi.
In the words of one patron’s card comments: “Pfeiffer’s carror f**ked.”
For Chef Jason Winters, an ambitious fusing of two of the world’s boldest cuisines.
In the world of cuisine choices, the melding of Mexican with Levantine food speaks boldly. And that is just what Chef Jason did.
A play on pozole verde using halbut and green harissa in favor of chicken, melding abalone bits with hominy for a bowl of textures. A lamb neck Aleppo birria that was paired with a blue corn masa pita. A lime-labne paleta that brought one guest back to her childhood times in Mexico City. For the menu of Chef Jason, there was no question where the fusion was. And unlike Chef Max, who is all about nuance and subtlety, Chef Jason is a maximalist at heart, layering seemingly endless flavors and ingredients.
One diner—Denise Heenan, a repeat patron throughout the series—said her favorite bite of the night was one not featured on the menu but served solely to VIP diners as an in-between bite: a bacon-wrapped date-and-lamb chorizo ball.
A few personal words on the Long Beach Grand Prix Fixe.
As someone who has known the majority of these chefs rather intimately, I cannot say on a personal level how proud I am of what was accomplished on night one. Nerve-wracking. Excitement-inducing. Definitely worth every ounce of effort put it, what makes this competition so wildly fulfilling is witnessing the evolution of these chefs as the competition continues.
As someone involved in the very gregarious group text we have, they are not just proud of themselves and their culinary purveyors, but also proud of the city they represent. Ultimately, Long Beach is worth such a competition—and the chefs themselves are honoring their belief in that ideal through these ambitious menus.
Even more, this event is truly a collaborative effort. Wicked Wolf has been at nearly every single event offering up welcome drinks to guests. Everyone from Gemmae and Nonna Mercato to Foodologie and Telefèric has given guests gift bags…
And more recently, Elite Foodservice Solutions has brought on some gorgeous china—from brands like Revol, Le Creuset, Haand, Ginori1735, Vista Alegre, Villeroy & Boch…—for our chefs to choose from to make the meal more special. Those incredible crystal wine glasses? Courtesy of Hospitality Brands via Elite Foodservice Solutions.
The Long Beach Food Scene: moving onward and upward
This event has not only showcased chefs in a way never seen before but also highlights how incredible the Long Beach food scene and community—beyond the keyboards—really is.
Next up for the finale? Chef Max Pfeiffer of Sky Room versus Chef Luis Navarro of Lola’s.
