Vernon chef Simon Dufresne has been crowned the winner of the B.C. Young Chefs competition in Vancouver, earning the provincial title and advancing to represent British Columbia against Canada’s best young chefs in the national competition to be held in June in Niagara Falls. Dufresne wowed the judges with his two-course meal created in just two hours, featuring a steelhead trout terrine with lobster and scallop mousse as the appetizer and asparagus velouté with a glazed chicken breast, gnocchi, asparagus, and morel mushrooms, and an apricot vinaigrette for the main course.
To qualify for the provincials, Dufresne had to win the Okanagan regional championship against five other young chefs from the valley, where he created a cornish game hen with gnocchi, sauteed broccoli rabe, cucumber caramel, and au jus in a Black Box Cookoff with mystery ingredients. Dufresne credits his competition entries as a way to keep his skills relevant and to experience something different from working in a kitchen.
Dufresne, who is 21 years old and works as Chef de partie at Lake Country’s 50th Parallel Estate Winery, has already cooked Thanksgiving dinner in Italy in 2019 and represented Canada at an international culinary event in Europe in 2022. His latest regional and provincial honors have validated his career choice and showcased his impressive culinary skills.
The B.C. Young Chefs competition was hosted by the B.C. Chefs Association, and Dufresne competed against three other chefs, one from each of the different branches of the chefs association within B.C. The judges, who came from all across the province, were blown away by Dufresne’s dishes and deemed him the clear-cut winner.