Astoria Chef to Represent Oregon at the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, August 1

It’s time again for the Great American Seafood Cook-off (GASC) in New Orleans, LA with Chef Chris Holen of Astoria’s Baked Alaska Restaurant representing Oregon at this 11th annual event on August 2nd.  Chef Holen is the Executive Chef/Owner of Baked Alaska in Astoria, overlooking the beautiful Columbia River. After traveling and graduating from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, Holen and his wife began Baked Alaska first as a traveling soup kitchen and then a seven-table café. The new larger Baked Alaska focuses on northwest seafood and chef’s tasting menus.  Chef Holen is known for his community spirit and lives by the mantra, “lucky to live here”. He is no stranger to competition being a two-time champion in the Black Box cooking competition in Tillamook, OR. He is also the reigning champion of The Iron Chef Goes Coastal event in Seaside, OR. after winning in 2013. He has cooked at The James Beard House in New York City on three separate occasions, most recently to represent his restaurant and Astoria.  “With Chris’s reputation and experience cooking with Northwest ingredients, we are sure that he will make us proud in New Orleans,” said Hugh Link Administrator for Seafood OREGON.  Chef Holen will be accompanied at the competition by his chef de cuisine at Baked Alaska, Phil Spencer and Seafood OREGON representatives.  Oregon’s entry to the GASC is being sponsored by Seafood OREGON, a cooperative marketing, promotion and education venture made up of the state’s four industry-funded Commodity Commissions – the Oregon Albacore, Dungeness Crab, Salmon and Trawl Commissions – that operate under the umbrella of the Oregon Department of Agriculture.