Chefs Michael Geary, Dave Stoltzfus, Mark Pawlowski and James Batterson
Win the 2009 Pennsylvania Iron Chef Competition

The PA Tourism & Lodging Association recently held its third annual Food & Beverage Conference, “Sweet Success in Food & Beverage”, at the Hershey Lodge.

The 2009 Pennsylvania Iron Chef Competition, sponsored by Sysco Central Pennsylvania, closed this outstanding Conference. The Competition consisted of four teams with four chefs per team. Each team had two hours to complete a three-course gourmet meal and pair each course with a fitting wine selection. The teams stagger their starting times by fifteen minutes - that way no one is serving a cold dish! To make things more difficult, the competitors do not know what all of their ingredients are. They are provided a list of common pantry items about three weeks prior, but have to pull their proteins out of a hat on the day of the competition.

The winning team of both the 2007 and 2008 Pennsylvania Iron Chef Competitions defended their title again, winning this year for a third consecutive time. This outstanding team includes:

Michael Geary, Executive Chef of the Holiday Inn and Conference Center, Breinigsville
Dave Stoltzfus, Executive Chef with Compass Corporation
Mark Pawlowski, Executive Chef of the Yorktown Hotel, York
James Batterson, Sous Chef of the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey

Iron Chef Winners: left to right - Chef James Batterson, Sous Chef of the Sheraton Harrisburg, Chef Mark Pawlowski, Executive Chef of the Yorktown Hotel, York, Chef Michael Geary, Executive Chef of the Holiday Inn and Conference Center, Breinigsville, and Dave Stoltzfus, Executive Chef with Compass Corporation.

The other twelve competing chefs from across Pennsylvania were:
Jeremy Critchfield, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort
Andrew Monk, Penn State Hospitality Services
Greg Heindel, Lancaster Host Resort
John Martin, The Cameron Estate Inn
William Murphy, Historic Hotel Bethlehem
Michael Turano, Woodloch Resort & Country Club
Ricky Gross, Courtyard by Marriott, Philadelphia
George Gerhart, Alaska Pete's Roadhouse Grille
James Woltman, Stocks on 2nd
_Joshua Short, Houlihan's & Café Zooka
Jason Siebels, Radisson Penn Harris
Michael Collier, Hershey Country Club

For more information on this Conference visit the post-event website at: www.patourism.org/fb