Announced The 2006 S.pellegrino Almost Famous Chefs Competition Winner Announced

RANBIR BATRA OF KENDALL COLLEGE IS ANNOUNCED THE WINNER OF THE 2006 S.PELLEGRINO ALMOST FAMOUS CHEFS COMPETITION

Young Chef Dazzles Celebrity Judges, Competing against top student chefs across the United States and Canada for the Title of The Next Up-and-Coming Chef





(Napa, CA, November 3, 2006) - On Sunday night at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa, CA, judges of the 5th Annual S.PellegrinoTM Almost Famous ChefSM Competition proclaimed Ranbir Batra of Kendall College the 2006 S.Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef winner, awarding him a $10,000 cash prize and a one-year employment opportunity to work at Julia's Kitchen at COPIA in Napa, California.

The S.Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition, held from October 27 to October 30, at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone incorporated three challenging culinary contests over a series of three days. Batra, along with nine other regional finalists from top culinary schools across the United States and Canada - Paul Yeck from the French Culinary Institute, Patrick Kriss of George Brown College, Mohammed Assi of The Art Institute of Dallas, Louis Fiorentino from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Pidor Kem of California School of Culinary Arts, Thomas Lonardo of Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, Rebecca Angoff from New England Culinary Institute, Sakiko Tani from California Culinary Academy and Daniel Black from Florida Culinary Institute - competed in all three of these competitions including the Harvest Mystery Basket, for which contestants had only two hours to prepare a dish made from unique items secretly revealed to them at the start of the contest, with this year's market basket featuring ingredients such as mahi mahi, butternut squash and pancetta; the Signature Dish, for which contestants prepared their winning regional dish for 200 guests to be served at a final tasting gala; and, finally, the People's Choice Awards, for which the 200 guests at the tasting gala voted on their favorite dish.

During the closing awards ceremony, the host of this year's competition, Sara Moulton, an awarding winning author, chef and star of "Sara's Secrets" on The Food Network, announced Ranbir Batra as the winner of the Signature Dish competition and overall winner of the 2006 S.Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition. Seattle native, Pidor Kem of the California School of Culinary Arts also won big, bringing home the award for both the Harvest Mystery Basket Competition and People's Choice Awards with her regional signature dish of Pan-seared Prosciutto-wrapped Halibut.

Ranbir Batra is no stranger to the culinary world. Having come from three generations of chefs, he knows what it takes to meet the pressures of a demanding kitchen. Emotionally overwhelmed and excited, he accepted the award honor with his mother, who traveled all the way from India to support her son, by his side. "Honestly, I feel absolutely great. I've never competed on such a high level with such talented competitors and I am just glad that I was able to rise to the top," asserted Ranbir. "I entered this competition with zero expectations and came out a winner."

Over the course of this year's competition, contestants had one-on-one time and group workshops with celebrity chefs, food journalists and media experts - learning firsthand what it takes to become a successful chef in today's competitive market. In addition to the host, Sara Moulton, other representatives on the high-powered culinary judging panel included Joey Altman host of KRON Television's Bay Cafi in San Francisco; from the Napa Valley area Greg Cole, executive chef and owner of Celadon and Cole's Chop House, Ken Frank, chef and owner of La Toque, and Victor Scargle, executive chef with Julia's Kitchen at COPIA; Christoph Leu, corporate chef of Starwood Hotels and Resorts; Jaso