Chef Maxwell Pfeiffer of Sky Room at the Fairmont Breakers defeated Chef Waldo Stout of Due Fiori in the second round of the first bracket of the inaugural Long Beach Grand Prix Fixe competition. A fine-dining veteran—whose pedigree includes positions in elite kitchens like Knife Pleat in Costa Mesa and Heritage here in Long Beach—the win comes as both chefs build their own reputations in the city.
“What was really great about this particular event was that I got to create food that a restaurant didn’t dictate,” Chef Max said. “I didn’t have to wonder constantly, ‘Will this work in the restaurant?’ I simply got the chance to create food that I wanted to create uninhibited.”
For Chef Waldo, though at a loss, the event marked a new exploration of creations he had long thought about.
“Wheat—whether it was my mom making tortillas sobaqueras or me making pasta—has always had this part of my soul,” Chef Waldo said. “And these ideas are just things on paper at first. And this allowed me to make those ideas a bit more tangible.
Bracket 1 is all about formation: What formed the chef’s culinary identity?
Chef Waldo came with a menu that, for those know him, shouldn’t come as a shock. And it was one surrounded by Sonoran wheat. Chef Waldo’s culinary life points—a triptych of Arizona, where he was raised; Sonora, where his parents were from and his second home; and Long Beach, his professional base—all play a part.
Simultaneously Southwestern, Mexican, and Californian, his menu featured a wild array of offerings that seem disparate but ultimately gluton-ize together. A Navajo fry bread topped with cherry tomatoes and prosciutto. A gorgeous squid ink chittara doused in shellfish and a surprisingly light’n’bright guajillo cream sauce. And a Sonoran flour tortilla topped with Josper grilled ribeye and chiltepín goodness.
And then there’s Chef Maxwell, the silent dark horse…
Centered and confident, Chef Max’s menu was California cuisine-meets-technique at its chief, classic crest.
Though an anecdote—and perhaps more than the chefs wish for me to share—I do find one thing worth noting: In a room of wonderfully loud, sometimes overtly confident chefs, when discussing this competition, it was Chef Max who sat back most silently. This was not out of a sense of pretense or discomfort; he was simply already planning. He would listen to other chefs rattle off about ideas, take it in, and put it somewhere for later when he was crafting what would be an ode to California seasonality and sophistication. And, as always, nudging ribs with nostalgia and whimsy.
A gougère stuffed with cheddar and topped with apple—apple and cheese, a childhood love affair if your parents were kind enough to introduce you to the combination. Chowder—just entirely removed from chowder form, assembled into large chunks that showcase the power of oceanic delights and lay them out for you to remind you why you love, well, a bowl of chowder.
It was a gorgeously layered menu that proved why he heads Sky Room.
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 two. Just as with night one: Nerve-wracking. Excitement-inducing. Definitely worth every ounce of effort put into 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.
Also, it was such a pleasure to see the patrons come out in support and, in what could only feel like a community confident that their city isn’t culinary-adjacent, but culinary in and of itself.
Next up? Chef Jason Witzl of Ellies versus Chef Carlos Jurado of Selva on Sept. 22.
Interested in the semifinals (Bracket Two)? Find tickets here.
