Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published July 20, 2009 With Louisiana Crabmeat, Shrimp, And Sheepshead Commander's Chef Wins National Seafood Cookoff Tory McPhail, the executive chef at Commander's Palace, won the sixth annual Great American Seafood Cookoff at the Convention Center over the weekend. His dish was seafood mixed grill, using sheepshead, shrimp and crabmeat. He bested chefs from fifteen other states to winning the literal crown as King of Seafood. He also gets our prize for Mr. Congeniality, expressing in his acceptance speech how much he enjoyed meeting and hanging with the other chefs. This is the third time a local chef has won this contest. (John Besh won the first one, and Galatoire's chef Brian Landry took it last year.) Frank Brigtsen came in second in 2005. It looks as though the home field advantage is very strong. Either that or the fix is in. Or, more probably, the local guys have better product and better ideas to work with. © 2009 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com