On the Town: Area amateur gourmets battle to be 'Top Chef Maumee Valley'

Scott Thompson, Molly Thompson, Tom Williams, Gary Boehm, Bonnie Blankinship, Mike Nagel, and Shelly Orenstein at Maumee Valley Country Day School's Top Chef event.

Amateur chefs were at the Maumee Valley Country Day School's first Top Chef Maumee Valley event in April on campus. Ten teams of four chefs competed for the title of "Top Chef Maumee Valley."

Each team was assigned a type of protein to use in creating tasting portions for guests. The recipes are to be included in a printed cookbook.

Funds were raised through team "tips" with the winner named at the end of the evening for raising the most money, so there was plenty of interaction with guests to compete for tips. The Meat N' Greet team of Linda and Fred Deichert and Kathleen and Mark Frasco was the top team.

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The People's Choice award went to "Cooking Rear to Win the Gear" with team members: Jarin Jaffee, Shiela Esten, Jim Fish, and Mark Baker.

Silent and live auctions also were part of the fun. More than $65,000 was raised thanks to the nearly 200 guests, the chefs, and event chairman Hope Finch and her committee.

Sponsors included Debbie and Leo Deiger and others. Seen were Susan and Frazier Reams, Patrice Spitzer, Dave Francisco and Patti Wise, Betsy and Reeve Kelsey, Tommy and Annie Pipatjarasgit, Aisha Deal and Ned Lakshmipathy, Jim and Angela Brennan, Kay and Steve Foster, Cliff and Lisa Oberlin, and Raj and Sana Reddy.