Chef Charles Kassels takes home a Heavy Medal

A capacity house cheered as El Chorro Lodge's Executive Chef Charles Kassels and his team stirred up victory at Arizona's Careers in Culinary Arts Program's (C-CAP) Heavy Medal competition this past weekend.

Assisted by Chef Jared Porter, of The Parlor, and 2010 C-CAP scholarship winner Chelsea Edwards, now in culinary studies at The Art Institute of Phoenix, Chef Kassels used wild mushrooms to develop two lush dishes featuring wild mushrooms, this year's secret ingredient.

Porcini cavatelli with Romano sauce and wild mushroom stroganoff with crème fraiche and bordelaise sauce proved irresistible to judges, who gave the dishes a combined score of 9.133. Judging criteria included taste, originality, use of the secret ingredient, and presentation.

Bob Bondurant of Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, Debbie Gaby, Co-Founder and President of Sleep America, and Phoenix Suns Coach Alvin Gentry were joined by two lucky members of the audience to sample the dishes created by Chef Kassels and competitor Francesco Roccato, executive chef of the Intercontinental Montelucia Resort, which hosted the event.