The winner of the first annual Mussel Match Up Chef Competition, sponsored by the Mussel Industry Council (MIC) and held at the International Restaurant and Food Service Show of New York, is Chef Peter Dewar from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The competition represents the mussel producers in PEI, NS and Newfoundland, Canada. Dewar has won many competitions in his career, including Competing Chef of the Year in Canada and is a member of the Canadian culinary team competing at the Culinary Olympics in 2012. 

Chef Peter Dewar
Eleven contestants amazed the judges and the crowds with creative mussel dishes and Dewar's winning dish, which was called "Mussel Sheet," consisted of four components: a tarragon flavored mussel sheet, covered with a tempura mussel with two side dishes of saffron mayo and pickled red onion. 

The contestants were judged on five categories: menu presentation and adherence, taste, flavors and combinations, presentation, and appropriate use of mussel product and creativity. Two judges from Canada, chefs Gordon Bailey and Roger Andrews, were joined by Hell's Kitchen's runner-up, Chef Kevin Cottle and senior food editor of the Nation's Restaurant News, Bret Thorn. 

The winner will receive a trip for two to Atlantic Canada valued at $10,000 in September 2011. The MIC also presented a winning trophy to Chef Greg McCarthy of Beach Street Hospitality in New York for the most creative use of mussels with his dish of PEI mussels with morels and miso.  

For more information, visit www.discovermussels.com.