Student and Celebrity Chef Showdown 2026

Student and Celebrity Chef Showdown 2026 celebrates student creativity, culinary talent, and collaboration as LAUSD students team up with celebrity chefs to create innovative, delicious, and school-friendly meals for Café LA!

Show Transcript

today we're here at Los Angeles Mission College for our second annual student and celebrity chef Showdown we've got 5 different schools competing for a chance to get their dish on the menu do for our entire District so they've got a lot on the line good morning everybody are you guys all ready to cook first up on the agenda Sosa sosus is going to win this year because we have been testing our recipes we've had blind taste testers we've had people from our school come in try all of it and I I really hope that that pays off in the end Dorsey High School we're going to win because we practice we had a text each other a to make sure we had everything lots of lists re-checking lists lots of practice and Santee High School we've been working with each other for weeks I feel like we have a good connection we have chemistry like we work in the kitchen we go around each other you know we're not in each other's way this is a really good hardworking team Banning High School we are going to win this year cuz I believe that our dish is really Built Well and we're all really organized and are returning poly Tech High School tell Banny middle nothing on us our dish overall they're going to be stunned so today these schools have been paired with the celebrity chef so watching that mentorship is going to be really exciting so the winning team from last year polytechnique represented la in the first Cal Showdown with San Francisco they won ten thousand dollars this year in the winning team will represent us for the taste of the NFL at Super Bowl 2027 this is our second Showdown they are more focused and making better dishes for our menus not only that but they got to be able to combine the different items that we brought from from to school and each school will pick what they need for their dish with new fruits vegetables a lot of students have never tried before and we're going to have a blast welcome students so excited to have you here to cook for us today I know you've been working really really hard with your celebrity chefs and your teachers let's get ready to cook you guys ready you guys ready to win 2 3 nice oh let's go all right you guys let's wipe down and get ready all right we got this all right let's go check the timer let's go all right guys we have 45 minutes to just basically set the bar so let's go nice let's go let's do it Go the dish we are making today is a delicious turkey chili with a honey glazed cornbread and a southern apple crisp here's the rest wanted to say Tomatoes marls almost done with apples our inspiration for this idea but I was a kid I would not eat vegetables if my life depended on it but my grandma used to make chili and without a doubt every single time I would eat the entire the idea of trying to make the most nutritious meal will also not have to sacrifice any flavor or any of the Integrity of the dish we also put a big importance on the seasonality of our ingredients for instance we use fresh tomatoes 4 different kinds of fresh Peppers which we're currently actually growing in our garden at sosus making sure our meal was not only healthy but also fantastically delicious I I think for us the biggest challenge is our timing I think often times if we don't start in a fast pace of well it becomes hard to catch up later I'm 1 of The Faculty members here at Mission College teaching the new wave of culinary chefs and now it's just basically step back and then watch and perform looks good the color looks nice and we use homemade so we did not use nothing out of a can and was just spices cumin chili powder paprika and oregano just tasted the best and it was very sweet and crunchy so we I really like that texture all right tell me about the topic so we used whole brand oats as well as all purchase bar brown sugar and some butter to really bring it together really good really well apple crisp going in thank you I'm always asked what a good word that demonstrates what our school is its family you can see from our students they're very very close we are a span school so our school actually starts from fourth grade all the way to 12th grade we basically grow up together and we are organized we are united especially when they practice as much as they have this flamethrower way better than the 1 we have let's go let's go yep let's go go everybody get in your Zone focus on your ingredients Justin make sure you cut yourself cut yourself cut your stuff over here our dish is garlic parmesan chicken cannoli and what inspired it was all the Italian restaurants in La and we just want to bring that more into school help let's do it Italian food you can't really go wrong with it we we were given salted butter we requested unsalted so now we have to try to make it work but it's going to make our food salty we've been working on this for a long time now how much chicken is it supposed to be 1 pound of chicken 1 pound 16 oz here it's just take another look you got this and I feel like we have everything put together things are a little bit all over the place our biggest challenge today will probably be time because they're not used to this kitchen so you know they have to Pivot see if you can find onion powder it's a little thick right yes they've made this dish from start to finish probably 6 or 7 times but in this environment they're in a foreign kitchen those nerves come in and they're done a lot of competition cooking on TV and I have seen firsthand how racing against the clock it becomes a whole different ball game you're Russian slow down take a there you go good job as the students were putting together this a dish we focused on what was right there in our garden 3 tomatoes onions garlic all our herbs we're using being able to have it right there really was helpful so more people need a helping me and Plaza those balls it's tough 4 down 5 down it's not going to show it's going to be inside of the cannelloni the students they put their heart into this I told them go out have a good time have the desired to learn the desire to do better all you're going to do is produce quality guys nice that happened fast stressing me out for a second there pulled it together get that in the oven awesome 4 Dory Santee on me Santee on 3123 our destiny is an intial on the pie all of us on this team are Latinos and internals are kind of like a comfort food in our culture so we wanted to incorporate position with a new modern style we kind of combine it with a pie and a lasagna so it's in a Mexican American dish and we're the newcomers you know it's our first year here we're from La we represent la we don't care where these other people are from you know we want to win for La like we're not nervous like it's our first year and it's our first win I feel like I need more care I don't know if that's enough training for 8 to cut them thin and you'll be fine that's that's enough my kids got hard and with me guiding them now they got a little salt and we got flavor let's get ready to layer we got 35 minutes let's go mix it up as you go don't put too much you can always add salt but you can't take it away good job you guys you ain't lacking on Flavor these students that Chef Pepper has are amazing they know their roles they support each other and in a kitchen that's what it's all about I remember my first time being on Alex versus America and Tournament of Champions and you get butterflies regardless of how seasoned you are it's still scary so I think they're holding it together they're working as a team really well and motivating each other to go out and get this win come on a little more chicken going going well what do you guys making doing a layered enchilada but Mexican style so they have some sushi chicken flavorful liquid they're making their tomatillo sauce and they just got to start layering it and bake it for like 20 minutes and let it cool and you guys need to be like on it you know it's amazing to see what is able to be accomplished by these young kids and producing dishes that are so delicious 1 which is going to get picked to be in all 600 LAUSD schools is incredible to me winner from last year the bot the Korean dish that was so yummy I put it on our menu we opened our first restaurant back in 1981 we now have restaurants here in LA in Palm Springs 2500 meals day for food insecure but really these kids there are future all right good luck you guys you just you know you need to like make sure you be Pi this year Poly technik High School Let's Do It Go periods so last year we won that like that was an easy win like we got that down and then like this year we're going to get this down too like this easy win too like nobody's going to beat us nobody can tell Paulie today we're preparing an Indian dish but chicken with naan and then also on a salad with a mango lassi we're trying to do Indian today you know and then we're also trying to represent like our fellow Indian Community and then we're trying to include them guys let's start on the mango lassi in our school community we have a group of Indian and Punjabi students that don't participate in the school lunch so they decided that they were going to do something that make them feel at home uh this is for the non-brand basically just like Peter but the difference is that we're adding a big yogurt what we did is just let it sit out for a bit and now it's nice and doughy and then we're going to heat it up where are you going to cook it all right we're going to cook it right here on the stove right here yeah the kids are doing so good they are so excited about this dish step other comfort zone last year was a Korean dish now they're playing with some big fun bold Indian Cuisine flavors which they're very stoked about yeah I would definitely start here and then go from there with your slices my grandmother cooked with me when I was a kid instilling those life tools and I haven't left the kitchen since I've only worked in restaurants every style of dining from fine dining to Pancake shops knowledge I'm so honored to share with the students just pick off these smaller beautiful pieces witness their growth their excitement their are bringing it surely they grow their own produce on school property so what did we bring from the garden The Parsley the cilantro the mint we're trying to be as farm to table as we can Farm to Table program is a program where we're bringing in fresh fruits and vegetables for our students it's like we're bringing Persian cucumbers Cara Cara oranges all these fresh apples were picked 72 hours ago so these kids they're getting them fresh picked right off the tree right to their plate we use fresh ingredients every day straight coming from neighboring farms at least twice a week which we serve at schools and by doing this they're being educated and also shown that there are other things you know they're using ingredients that are gut warming ginger garlic you know and that's what's exciting we're seeing the future of culinary unfold before our eyes proud of your work yes chef oh my God Holly take this here but they're here because banning's here Banning here too we need to take first place because we're B house go pilot there we go our dish is a chili rub chicken served with a a double Citrus taste and what inspired it is that many of the LA Community is filled with Hispanics and Asians and I thought it would be a really great idea to do a smaller dish which is Mexican as well as a Korean Fusion so we added Goku Jan which is a Korean chili paste students they like rice and chicken so it'll fill you up chicken and rice is the most craveable combination of any cuisine in the world it really is and with the Mexican Flair a Korean flare in there a lot of bold flavors we're going to take it probably crowd had a little bit less that way the more rice that hits the bottom of the pan the crispier it gets you know I went to chat with high school so I was in LAUSD as well you need to sharpen your knife let me see your knife it's kind of crazy started as a butcher loved it went up to San Francisco and worked with the best chefs over the last 20 plus years and now my wife and I have pets Coastal Kitchen and pescantina and we're a big community members and we love to be able to help out wherever we can so just kind of a dish you want to keep that pan hot just full speed Full Speed Ahead all right what's going on here what do we got I'm adding the last ingredients for the seasoning for the rep then after I'm going to add the the chicken I really enjoy cooking and being in the kitchen and Chef style has been really a good role model for me and he's always been there to motivate us and to Cheers on the fire good job I'm going to go show a giver so I'm here to step in and show them look you want to do this I can make it possible you want to do this let's make it possible I love teaching if I could give my heart and soul with I do every day I'm there from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. I'm there all right girls got this the poly Tech keep it going breathe deep breath Chef uh can we turn the heat up a little bit is it not cracking up wait for it to heat up okay this is not guys let's start let's get that nonstick pan going to this is not this is not working out we're having a bit of trouble with the non-red cuz the griddle was not hot enough so we're going to transfer back to the pan so yeah so for a little behind guys you got 15 minutes maybe less and it's going to take 10 minutes to play at least how are you doing George pretty good Chef I think the first ones are not going to work out okay that's fine that's fine that's fine be careful there you go and set it and let it cool so we're getting the edges are there but I'll be concerned about this part so I would put it back in for like another couple of minutes cuz you can see it's not melted right here yet but it's almost there and push it all the way in it gets hotter at the back there you go now you can add all that back into here right because you're just going to blend it all together don't touch that it's hot bro it's really important for me to educate the Next Generation because it's a lost art almost we've kind of moved away where you can just order whatever you want on your phone phone and no 1 else had a cookie more which is really great for a chef but really bad as a society so you know to teach these kids new things is really important okay there we go nice that looks amazing guys all right you guys once that cools we can cut it it has been a little bit difficult and you know there was 1 little hiccup with someone cutting himself it happens so this is a little slice just a little slice in the thumb a little bit it's still going to get the topic it's nothing else let me get it over with got them gloves on minutes 10 minutes yeah great job great job Chef said leave it uncovered low flame let it just let it do its thing I think our strategy to win today is to put a nice Twist on a offering food tasting spoons right there you can have good food without having to sacrifice the things that you love for it it's really good it's delicious Mazza Tomatoes right what's the setup right there what's you're inspired my hat Southern rustic look so we're using cast iron Little Dutch ovens right now they're heating so our food stays warm and then we have another little cast iron plate that we're going to use for apple crumble wow this is impressive makes me feel like if I'm house we are on 8 minutes so the chicken has been baked off they're now filling those cannoli roles that they'll end up rolling up around the chicken um now it's just assembly and garnishing make sure those are nice and tight more minute let's get that in the oven how's it looking guys how's it looking how's it looking go go go go uh Daniel Starr portioning the lofty yes sir thank you we're not messy we're not messy time management is huge right we can the best dish in the world but if it doesn't make it on that plate with Integrity Beauty then all this work is for nothing all right we're going to make a Loi guys garnish garnish yes sir all right guys we have 7 minutes left we got to chili on the plate let's go you guys ready okay I have 1 ready start serving chili slide them down next person start grabbing them keep them going there we go good job spoon go ahead and try it right all right you're still in competition so not much time let's play I'm going to turn all the plates the same way go right there good job there you go I'm going to have 5 and a half minutes as fast as you're going right now you guys you got to go twice as fast you're almost done with the rice get a get a good amount a nice full spoon so you have a nice yep don't trip on the plate there you go perfect let it come off your spoon first and then swipe amazing what just came out of the oven garlic chicken parmesan cannelloni what's inside the little chicken fritter that I saw wow that's incredible this was very creative you guys really creative you got 3 minutes let's go okay Jaylen slow down that's enough there you go let's go hurry up Eric get I'm on the plate exactly the same so like you got to make them all like this right so they're all uniform we're almost there yeah just keep it thin just keep it thin you ready guys yes let's go we got to go we got to go we got to go as soon as they start entering we got to go hurry up y'all hurry up we're so close come on guys let's go hurry up with the salad in the middle let's go we need 8 salads that look just like this let's go hurry up help out we're almost there we got 2 but this sport over there 345 come on Lando all right Girls 2 minutes let's go let's get going we got take your time but hurry up who said that Kirk Cobain looks amazing sweet make the plates as pretty as possible your 7 best there you looking beautiful team hey we got like 1 minute 1 minute 1 minute we know just swipe that plate then grab a napkin grab a wet napkin over there come on go come on come on come on 1 minute put it on the put it on the thank you make it pretty yeah the avocados are kind of getting smushed it's okay it still looks beautiful it's okay okay got it this 1 another 1 this 1 needs another 1 try to make them look alike good job we got the parsley and we got like go here wipe down plate just don't go all the way down gently gently we're all here for you yes yeah I like that and then the cilantro the cilantro the cilantro the cilantro yes sir uh maybe on the right yes sir what time you got 20 seconds let's go guys these look beautiful gorgeous we got 15 seconds come on let's go don't think about it do it you've been doing it for 4 weeks behind under all right you yes time yeah good job great job guys great job that's beautiful it really does look beautiful Chef amazing Chef thank you thank you Chef we're ready let's do it proud of y'all y'all did that thing I'm going to sleep well tonight grab a plate and a salad and serve the judges today we've invited judges here and each team is going to get feedback from student judges as well as a food critic and celebrity chef here there's certain things that we're judging obviously the look of the dish how creative does it fill the requirements for Lau USD but in the end to me the most important thing is is this dish really well prepared and delicious have a delicious healthy turkey chili along with a honey kissed cornbread and a fantastic Southern apple crisp enjoy thank you beautiful presentation amazing right so we definitely put a lot of work into making sure that every single thing we used was seasonal for instance tomatoes are in season we're actually growing them in our garden at sosus oh I like the chili that's tasty we put a lot of effort into our different desserts you'll see we have a cornbread right in the middle and then a delicious honey crisp on the side it is a mix between a pie and a strudel we really have had to fine-tune the exact amount of butter needed I have to say I love the texture of the cornbread yeah I agree it's really nice flaky crumbly but also you get the texture of the Corn what a smart way to incorporate that it's delicious this is probably the star of the dish for me yeah thank you thank you guys thank you so much yeah thank you guys I got to say I am very proud of you guys you were organized you communicated all the way and it shows on the plate because that is a beautiful plate all right let's go team dorsy oh wow this looks incredible all right today we have a garlic parmesan chicken cannibali with a side of Greek vanilla yogurt dip with mangoes it has parsley to tomatoes onion garlic a whole bunch of fresh we got from our garden we have freshly squeezed oranges in the yogurt as well with cinnamon at the top the decision to actually make a chicken fritter it's that's very unusual so how did you guys come up with that idea at this we called it lasagna rolls cuz we're using the lasagna noodles but we realized the name is actually called cannelloni we decided to put garlic parmesan and bit together cuz who doesn't like garlic parmesan and spaghetti right well as someone who eats the school lunch pretty regularly I definitely can see this on the menu I'm really enjoying the balance of the flavors with the herbs this feels very Gourmet style I like this and it tastes great so I think that's another bonus great job guys thank you team dorsy great job thank you guys great job how y'all feel great I saw her turn off the yogurt we got the hang of it it's okay it's just our first time it's just our first time with our first time all right team Banning is here to present their dish today we have a brown prices in the rice with golden Shake would a Patty pan flash for this process the fried rice needs to be at the highest level of heat it gives you more flavor and the good crisp can you tell me again about the process of the chicken first I toasted the seasoning and then after I took it out I added the lime juice and the olive oil I mixed it and then put the marinade into the chicken and then I started pan frying 1 thing that was challenging was making sure that the fire was really high and I thought it was going to burn the chicken as well but overall it was a nice experience I really enjoyed the presentation it tastes really good it smells really good I love this fruit as well overall I loved it High 5 is all around holy moly that was amazing it was a playful dish grab a little squash just grab some rice and sauce grab some chicken I feel good for you guys oh yeah we're good all right team Polly tell us about your dish today says and then the salad and then we have a naan bread on the side best way I would say to eat it is attack the non get a piece of the butter chicken with some rice incorporate everything beautiful bite right there yeah I think you did a nice job on the non well tell me about what kind of flour you use we use we flour and bread flour try to keep it this whole grain as we can you know I think what's great about this is that as soon as you can eat with their hands speaking as a student like that's something that a lot of us enjoy especially with the school lunches kind of just like digging in there and the mango lassi you can use that as a refresher it's just going to be really refreshing to drink I think the seasoning on the mango lassi is really good subtle and really like just little yeah just a little bit of kick but very subtle and like really balanced loved it thank you thank you I feel like they weren't really expecting something so intricate the blend of spices it looked like they really enjoyed it I'm really happy about it now we have Team Santee presenting their dish this is a enchilada pie it's inspired by traditional Mexican flavors and we turned it into a sort of lasagna with a garden salad bowl of fruit it takes flavor back from our culture we wanted to bring traditional flavors and introduce new modern techniques to present a nice dish for you guys to enjoy so tell me about the layers of the enchilada pie are these corn tortillas or what do you have here so the engine of the pie has um a corn layer that was dipped in the red a sauce followed by chicken and cheese then you repeat it I love the combo of the heat with the pickled onion is great together it's not too spicy but you really get the roasted to teal flavor in there tell her who who they're talking to please I have a number of restaurants in Las Vegas and LA in here so I have a fair amount of experience with this it's a little yeah but the very I like the Heat in the very days really nice and the balance of flavors is really nice and done awesome there's a lot of in order to meet all the requirements of LAUSD meals to go on their menus in 600 schools but then the quality of the dishes that these kids have decided to produce is mind-boggling it was hard judging because it's really they're very close hey the moment you've all been waiting for drum roll fifth prize of $500 award to the school culinary program Banning High School congratulations in the kitchen there's 3 main rules is learn and grow its the 3 rules that I think we would all go based upon for your career in anything so I think that's really important that we learn and fourth Prize winner goes to $500 award to the culinary arts program as well Susan Dorsey High School woo oh everything it was pretty fast everything was like all over the place not but at the same time not really stop stop stop it was controlled but uncontrolled just a slice but I'm feeling good I'm feeling great I'm glad that it's all over everything went smooth Prize winner 750 award to the school culinary program and a team meal at the celebrity Chef's Restaurant that goes to Santee High School great I feel like you could tell that we were in flow everyone was able to do their thing you know like we instantly knew what to do and we did it in time and we didn't know I want to shout out my whole team too we all pulled through we already worked well together and I'm super grateful for our Chef she kept us together try not to cut it just loosen the edge they got the heart I bring the soul well today we have the flavor that's good and of course a grand prize winner gets a trip to Napa Valley that I want to come I want to come that includes a VIP tour of both culinary Institutes of America's campuses uh behind the scenes kitchen tour of the French Laundry and Buchan Bakery amazing farm tours at highlight organic and sustainable practices and other once-in-a-lifetime culinary experiences the amazing Polytechnic High School amazing second year in a row awesome awesome what I think me is when is this year awarded the mentors the teacher honestly it's yeah you guys will take the greatness yeah as well as our guidance and and persistence and the next step is the Super Bowl that's that's where we're heading that's the plan oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah second prize thousand dollar award to the culinary program and a team meal also at the celebrity Chef's Restaurant goes 2 South Nashville city I am most proud of my teammates I think we brought a fantastic dish and I think we really did all that we could do you know on creating this dish was amazing but I hear more about the bond I made with that yeah good job all oh wow ladies and Gentlemen please give a great Round of Applause to all our winners today all our students celebrity chefs Food Services and everyone here they made it happen kosia thank you very much