Chef Tim Labonte, whose pork belly waffles smoked the competition at the Incredible Breakfast Cook-Off in 2014, took back his crown Wednesday.
Labonte, who works at BlueFin, the newly rebranded restaurant in the Portland Harbor Hotel, won this year’s cook-off with his Lobstah Hash – lobster served with chervil-infused mascarpone and root vegetable-and-corn hash.
The cook-off, held at Sea Dog Brewing Co. every year, fed a sold-out crowd a selection of drool-worthy, sweet and savory breakfast dishes from a dozen local chefs, including blueberry buckle with orange nutmeg cream and house smoked bacon maple syrup from Black Tie, a Portland catering company, and marinated Ora King salmon on a mini Kennebec potato dill roll with truffled honey from Tiqa restaurant in Portland. The public tasted samples of each dish and then voted for a winner.
The event kicks off the 10th annual Maine Restaurant Week, which starts Thursday and runs through March 12. All of the proceeds from the cook-off will be donated to Preble Street’s Teen Services, a nonprofit that provides shelter, meals, clothing and crisis intervention for homeless and runaway youth.
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