There was nothing like the aroma of good olive oil heating in a sauté pan and a fired-up outdoor barbecue to get the attention of Broad Street Market shoppers dodging raindrops on a dismal Saturday morning last month. It was May 8, 1999, and the rain subsided just long enough for three gracious chefs from wonderful area restaurants, to participate and compete in the first ever Celebrity Chefs Invitational. Those chefs that took part in the event were:·

• Carrie Bogar, co-owner, with husband Jerry, Empire Restaurant and Bar, Carlisle;

• Steve Dunlap, Chef and Kitchen Manager at Café on Market, Camp Hill;

• James Ebersole, Executive Chef with Maxwell’s Parkside Café, Harrisburg.

A panel of celebrity judges was on hand to cast their votes for the best entree produced. The chefs were given 20 green “market dollars” honored by all Broad Street Market vendors to buy ingredients for whatever entree they decided to whip up. As May Apples grace the woods this time of year, these chefs were in their habitat at the Broad Street Market, traipsing through and gathering the freshest earthly delights which they would use to build their creations. In 15 minutes flat, Chef James Ebersole didn’t quite spend all of his $20 but was first at his station beginning his preparation of Frenched pork chops stuffed with a chicken and apple sausage. Ebersole was sautéing his two pork chops when the other chefs appeared a few minutes later, Bogar toting potted basil and mint plants (and a soft pretzel for personal nourishment) and Dunlap placing a colorful array of fresh vegetables next to his Black Diamond knife case. The elbow-to-elbow, burner-to-burner cook off had begun. While a garlic butter basmati rice accompaniment to rack of lamb was the first component Dunlap got cooking on his burner, Bogar wasted no time peeling shrimp and char grilling Chorizo sausage and organic tomatoes she would later use in her Moroccan version of the classic Spanish seafood, Chorizo, and rice dish, paella.

The sound of sizzles, the scent of spices and the nonstop wrist action of the professional chefs kept the mid-size crowd enthralled and salivating from time to time. Burner trouble partway into the competition got Ebersole a little nervous, but dinner was spared as other Maxwell restaurateurs’ agile workmanship with cardboard saved the day. While Dunlap was frying sliced plantains for added garnish to his plate, Bogar was starting to grill mussels and clams for inclusion into the seafood dish, borrowing a splash of white wine from Ebersole, who was now working on a toasted pumpkin seed biscuit. A few ingredients were permitted from the chefs’ personal pantries, i.e., olive oil, butter and wine. Steadfast in quality ingredients, preparation and technique, all three chefs were giving their dishes their all.

Ebersole was first to begin plating his creation of filo-encrusted stuffed pork chops offset by the unmolded toasted pumpkin seed biscuit and admirably topped off with champagne mango slices, dried cherries and apricots, garnished with slices of pear apple.

Dunlap was finalizing his lamb entree with a stir fry of asparagus, bean sprouts, snow peas, scallions, red and yellow peppers, enoki mushrooms, and double-rigged carrot slices. (He brought his trusty mandolin for that carrot artwork). The five-chop rack of lamb sliced, exposed perfectly rare, rosy meat, stacked high on the plate, drizzled with a mango puree and red wine glaze, accented with the bright colored, crisp tender vegetables and plantain slices.

As the shrimp were beginning to turn pink, Bogar kept tasting, balancing cumin, coriander and cinnamon which would become the essence of her Moroccan paella. Molded couscous superseded Spain’s traditional rice in this dish as the spicy Chorizo sausage, sliced on the diagonal, complimented the popular shellfish perfumed with saffron. Fresh plucked basil and mint added the final zest and color to the presentation.

I was privileged to be a judge among the prominent, including Harrisburg City Council Woman Sandra Mosten, Meghan Gallia of WRVV, WHP-TV newsman John White, and Patriot-News Sports Editor Nick Horvath, Jr. At taste-testing time, the evaluation criteria became tough, and scoring competition was so tight that we had to pull out a calculator for the utmost in accuracy. There were plenty of left overs after our tasting for audience participation.

Ebersole’s novel rendition of the flaky-coated sausage stuffed pork chops (unlike the usually insipid stuffed pork chops most think of) was inspiring, with the multitude of savory accompaniments that shared the dish, and Dunlap’s sweet mango glaze balanced beautifully with the moist and tender, almost melting morsels of lamb. In the end, Bogar’s paella came through, accented — not masked — by a complexity of Moroccan flavors and spicy sausage that added so much to the subtle yet sublime seafood.

For these three phenomenal chefs, it was apparent that it did not matter who would win the Chefs Invitational. What was apparent was their passion for food and their devotion to pleasing others through their culinary adaptability and innovation.