CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- The Marine Corps Installations-West Chef of the Quarter Culinary Competition was hosted by the 41-Area Mess Hall here, March 12.
Kenny Ponce and Sid Hilarides, Sodexo employees from 53-Area Mess Hall, were awarded first place for the second quarter of fiscal year 2014. Ponce and Hilarides took first in the third quarter of the 2013 competition as well.
“Normally, I will assign proteins and a theme,” said Donovan Brown, the Sodexo regional executive chef for the West coast and Guam. “Instead of giving them a road map, they had to do everything on their own. So it was actually a little harder on them this time.”
This quarter was unique in that each of the four qualifying teams were required to design the menu where both entrees and the two additional dishes are all tied together in a theme chosen by each team.