Chefs find culinary inspiration in Calif. products during event

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 17, 2007

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Above: Back row, from left: Jonathan Leibel of The Cheesecake Factory and Jon Rogan of Baja Fresh. Front row, from left: Paul Janeway of IHOP, Kim Menzies of Daphne's Greek Cafe, Dennis Samala of Ventura Foods and Romanna Clark of Ventura Foods

Ventura Foods supplied a variety of its products for use in the kitchen, including these custom made sauces and dressings: Super Blueberry Ancho Glaze, Honeydew Vinaigrette, Certified Organic Sesame Soy Vinaigrette, Orange Sauce, Cilantro Lime Ranch, Certified Organic Sweet Onion Vinaigrette, Creamy Pesto Sauce, Blue Cheese Vinaigrette, Ancho Honey Vinaigrette, Creamy Chimichurri Sauce and Certified Organic Roasted Red Bell Pepper Vinaigrette

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Left: Chef Bill Briwa of The Culinary Institute of America's Greystone campus prepared a grilled pizza topped with fresh produce and Ventura Foods' Cilantro Lime Ranch dressing.

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Left: Scott Randolph of T.G.I. Friday's

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Right, from left: Cinnamon Combs of Cara Operations and Steve Logan of Ventura Foods

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Above, from left: Chris Martone of Subway and Amanda Heffelfinger of Ventura Foods worked in the CIA kitchen to create new menu items using the fresh, local ingredients their team purchased at the Ferry Market in San Francisco.

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Left, from left: Jeff Anderson of Citrine Bistro; Steve Hutnyan of Abuelo's; Marcie Joseph of Ventura Foods, June Gorzalanski of Jack in the Box, Rob Beauseau of Ventura Foods and Joe Elliott of CEC Enterprises display fresh figs purchased at San Francisco's Ferry Market.

Below: R&D Summit attendees visited the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco with a challenge to purchase local ingredients on a limited budget. The items were used to create dishes in the CIA kitchen the following day.

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Above, from left: Jim Doak of Culver's and David Groll of McAlister's Deli

Right: Scott Taylor of Beef '0' Brady's

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Above: Randy Shircel of Ventura Foods

Right: Paul Fiorentino of Ventura Foods talks about the dishes his team created during the hands-on workshop.

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