Avocado Madness Gets a Taste of Baja Hiramasa

By Rebecca Gardon

Presented by Chef’s Roll and sponsored by Avocados from Mexico, “Avocado Madness” is the third installment of Chef’s Plate. In the style of March Madness, the culinary battle started on March 1st with a line-up of 64 chefs who developed avocado-inspired recipes through a possible six rounds of competition. Each week half made it through to the next round until there were only four remaining. From those finalists, two were selected to travel to San Diego for a live competition where they created an avocado-inspired menu in front of the city’s best chefs and culinary press for a chance to win some amazing prizes.

The final match took place April 6th between Chef Dorian Southall and San Diego’s own Chef Ricardo Heredia at Kitchen 4140. The celebrity-studded judges panel included our fishmonger Tommy Gomes; Troy Johnson, food writer, and host, writer and judge for Food Network; Katherine Humphus of Kats Kitchen Collective, and renowned Cali-Baja chef, Javier Plascencia of Bracero Cocina and other notable restaurants in Mexico and Southern California. At stake was $10,000 cash, a professional knife set from Gunter Wilhelm Cutlery, as well as a golden ticket to the World Food Championships for the chance to win $100,000.

The head-to-head avocado-inspired menu included an appetizer course featuring our Baja Seas Hiramasa, a sustainable farm-raised sushi-grade yellowtail from Baja California. In a very tight race, Ricardo Heredia was crowned both “People’s Choice” and overall champion of Avocado Madness and Chef’s Plate 3. Congrats to both chefs on a most delicious event!