Cerritos High School Senior captures 3rd Annual Top Student Chef Crown held at Sheraton Cerritos

By Randy Economy
Food Critic

You can now call Yoonah Jeon, a 17 year old Senior from Cerritos High School the “hottest chef” in town.
Jeon, has won the 2011 Iron Chef Competition sponsored by the Sheraton Cerritos Hotel in conjunction with the Southeast ROP and ABC Unified School District.
The third annual event was held on Monday at the Grille 91 at the Sheraton Cerritos Hotel located next to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.
Jeon wowed a panel of 11 local well known judges with an amazing Chocolate Lava Cake with pomegranate and blood orange glaze with fresh cream with a twist of candied orange peel and a sprig of fresh mint. It was beyond mouthwatering, and soon her award winning creation will be featured on the Grille 91 menu as a desert item. Jeon said she is planning a career as a chef, and her experience she has gained while participating in the SEROP and Cerritos Sheraton sponsored event has given her a huge step in the right direction in reaching her goal.
Chef Carlos Garcia from the Sheraton Cerritos has been serving as the instructor for the “student chef program” for the past three years. Area high school students from Cerritos, Gahr, Whitney and Artesia high schools participate in the course that requires students to spend several hours each and every week to be at the Sheraton to learn the art of cooking.
This year, nine students were featured in the finals of the competition. Here is a brief description of the participant and their mouth watering creations.
Top Chef: Yoohan Jeon, 17, Senior at Cerritos High School with her Chocolate Lave Cake.
First Runner Up: Israel Gomez a Junior at Cerritos High School for his Pork Chops with broccoli, carrots, encrusted Yukon gold potatoes, with a cilantro and casabella Chile sauce.
Second Runner-Up: Joy Sampoonachot, Cerritos High School Senior for a Fresh Mango Carmel Cheesecake with fresh melon and a layer of mouthwatering camel glaze.
Third Runner-Up (Tie): Lucas Han, Cerritos High School Senior, for a Bibimbop Korean Noodle dish with ground beef, sautéed spinach, chili paste, shitake mushrooms, and bean sprouts topped with a fried egg. Also earning Third place honors was Sarah Kim a 17 year old Senior from Cerritos High School for her Asian Huevos Rancheros Appetizer complete with avocados, rice, crispy tortilla, rice and casabella sauce.
The other student finalists included: Christina Wu, 17, Cerritos High School for a Pork Tenderloin Tonkatsu with white rice and apple sauce; Elaine Wang, 17, Cerritos High School for an amazing Spicy Crab Cake with Dijon mustard/apple cider sauce; Cherie Woo, 17, Cerritos High School for a Vegetarian Risotto with carrots, fresh peas, asparagus with a red wine vinegar with Mexican parmesan cheese; Marisa Chiechi, a Senior at Cerritos High School with her version of a Grilled Pineapple Chicken Kabob with Teriyaki glaze, zucchini, onions over a bed of fried rice.
The winner also received two Passports to Disneyland. Each participant also received a Certificate of Recognition and lots of kudos from the panel of well known, “celebrity” judges.
Serving as Judges this year were Maynard Law, President of the ABC School Board, Celia Spitzer, Vice President of the ABC School Board, Armin Reyes, ABC School Board Member, Denise Strong, Coordinator of the SE Area ROP, Yesenia Piascencis, Human Resource Director of the Sheraton Cerritos, Faith Reed, Food and Beverage Manager for the Sheraton Cerritos, Randy Economy, Cerritos Community Leader; Laurie Calaunan, Director of Sales and Marketing for the Sheraton Cerritos, Gil Montano Southeast ROP Superintendent, Janice C. Peterson, Principal at Cerritos High School, and Cristina Riveroll, the General Manager of the Sheraton Cerritos.
Congratulations to these amazing talented young people here in our community. This is becoming on the of “premiere” high school student chef programs in all of Southern California. Chef Carlos Garcia said that all of his students are prepared and dedicated to the art and business of being a “top chef.”
“Their futures are bright. These talented students are the future master chefs for the world around us,” Garcia remarked.