Cooking up a winner

Perhaps if the aspiring chefs at Sunday’s Art Institute of California cooking contest had to prepare spaghetti, Jeremiah Wisdom would have won a scholarship.

But Wisdom, 19, of Costa Mesa High, learned to cook at an Italian restaurant and the dish of the day was sautéed breast of chicken served with fresh broccoli and rice pilaf. Wisdom was among 10 semifinalists competing for a chance to go to the national Best Teen Chef Scholarship Competition sponsored by the Art Institutes across the country.

“When he directs his attention it is like a bull force ? whatever he is going to do, he will be successful,” said friend Ileana Juarez.

Wisdom said his friends encouraged him to enter the competition.

“Some of my buddies are in culinary school and we sit around and talk about food,” Wisdom said.

Many of the students prepared chicken, sometimes twice a day, for two weeks leading up to the contest, and their loved ones lined the halls at the Art Institute of California ? Orange County on Sunday to see the pay-off.

Each teen had two hours to complete the meal, varying the presentation, spices and sauces.

The First Place winner will compete in the national competition at The Art Institute in Ft. Lauderdale next month for the title of Best Teen Chef in America. The national winner receives a full-tuition scholarship.

First Place at the semifinals Sunday went to Jessica Villalobos, 17, of Buena Park, who received a $5,000 scholarship. Second Place went to Anthony Ortega, 18, of Wildomar, who won a $3,000 scholarship. Third Place went to Ryan Jackson, of Oceanside, who won a $2,000 scholarship.

It was standing room only outside the institute’s classroom kitchen Sunday as parents, siblings and friends watched contestants cook, cameras snapping from start to finish.

Several parents said they were getting a little tired of eating sautéed chicken.

Sandra Yazzie, mother of contestant Monahan Graymountain, of Payson, Utah, said before the competition her son “would cook the whole meal at night, then the family would clean the whole thing up, and he’d make the whole meal again.”

Asked if they had too much food, she said, “It’s a big family, so the food was gone every night.”

The 2005 winner of the national Best Teen Chef Scholarship, Adreena Winnfield, 18, of San Francisco, was on hand to encourage this year’s contestants.

After winning the 2005 contest, Winnfield appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres television show twice preparing different dishes.

Her advice: “Passion about cooking “ is what it takes to be a good chef.dpt.13-teencook-1-kt-CPhotoInfoM71OSLVF20060313iw1gs2knKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Jeremiah Wisdom of Costa Mesa High School competes in the Best Teen Chef Regional Semifinals at the Art Institute of California. dpt.13-teencook-3-kt-BPhotoInfoM71OSMJN20060313iw1h1mknKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Spectators watch as judges and competitors participate in the Best Teen Chef Regional Semifinals at the Art Institute of California in Santa Ana.