With the weekend to prepare their chosen ingredients, competing chefs put their best dish forward in the first round of competition on Monday. The City Food Festival continues tonight with the second round.The four contestants must develop three distinctively different canapés using five surprise ingredients and present 150 portions for tasting in this Top Chef-style competition. Lifestyle caught up with the chefs as they prepared for Saturday’s street festival final. Grant Guenkel came to Bermuda when he got a call from Chad Mitchell, head chef at Red Steakhouse & Bar. Now, two years in, the Ontario native believes the food scene on the island could use some growth. “There are good, local ingredients, but the variety is definitely lacking,” said the sous chef at Red. He acknowledged cost can be prohibitive on an island that relies on imports, but he would still like to introduce new concepts and techniques.“A little more out-of-the-box, not-so-common, not your most popular combinations but flavours that work really well. Things you definitely have to be open-minded to try, but once you do you’ll be happy you did.”Western adaptations of the Vietnamese banh mi sandwich are right up his palate. “The meat is usually very fatty with pickled vegetables on top with a sweet soy sauce,” he explained.“That contrast of the acidity from the pickle with the fat. It’s a simple sandwich, but it’s packed with flavour. I’d like to see a lot more balance in the food — classics with a twist. Things that have a lot going on in a single bite.” For this week’s competition however, the 27-year-old is “going to try to use strictly ingredients you can find on the island”.“It’s a great challenge to be creative with limited ingredients, but it’s also tough to meet everyone’s need,” he said. “Whether that leaves me with five or six items, I’m going to try to work with those just to showcase what you can do with food from Bermuda.”His favourite on Red’s menu is the pork belly with corn purée. “We have some local corn from a small grower called Veggie Shack — he has a little farm in his backyard. I’m actually trying to source some pork belly from Tom Wadson right now.”Steve Cristofoli works in construction management. He entered the competition after spotting a flyer. “I always liked cooking. In fact, that’s what paid for my schooling back in Toronto,” he said. As a student, he was a line chef at the Air Canada Centre, cooking for the Maple Leafs, the Rafters and “all sorts of celebrities”, including Celine Dion, AC/DC and WWF wrestlers.“It was nice, but I didn’t go to school for that,” he laughed. He applied for a job stocking shelves, but when management caught wind of him attending George Brown College, he was promoted to the main kitchen.“I was a linesman for about two years — really high pressure but a ton of fun, but word got out that I was going to George Brown for construction engineering, not culinary arts.”He was asked to give up his place to an aspiring cook, staying on for the remainder of his four years as “the prime rib guy”.“I’d debone all these prime ribs and pass them to other chefs around the building,” he recalled. “After that, I worked for [Rochon Building Corp] in Toronto and built pretty much every single Krispy Kreme in Canada.”The 35-year-old said he likes to cook “anything meat”. “I make a lot of Italian food because I’m of Italian heritage. I make the best meat sauce you’ll ever have.”He won second place in a jerk chicken competition at the now-defunct Queen Street restaurant Lemon Tree, three years ago. “I wanted to try something different than construction. It’s kind of the same thing — as long as you plan a little bit, the execution just falls through. That’s primarily what I do, plan, plan and plan. “I feel good about it. The only real concern I have is the clock.”His girlfriend Marion Ritchie is a caterer. She will lend her expertise.“When they said, you have to make 150 canapés, I got a little worried, so that’s why I’m bringing the girlfriend in.”Dick Reno is the returning champion. While it won’t be easy to walk away with the top prize for the second time, he’s “not here for a haircut”. “You have to walk in with confidence, but keep in mind that you’ve got to work a little harder than the first time to keep the title,” he said.Last year, he earned his crown in the “mixed bag” round. Showcasing each ingredient using different techniques to score points, it resulted in a roasted red pepper shooter, bacon potato hash and shrimp mousse on a spoon.“It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. That’s what you get in 30 minutes,” he said. “The first round is where you show your perfect dish. Monday and [tonight] will show what people can really do given time. Saturday is real cowboy cooking — shooting from the hip.”Hailing from Houston, Texas, Mr Reno said he knew he wanted to cook when he was a teenager. He went to culinary school and worked for River Oaks Country Club, “one of the best country clubs in the US”. While he is best known for his Texas barbecue, the 32-year-old loves a challenge. “I’m a little bit of everything. Tell me what you want and I’m pretty damn sure I can do it for you,” he said. “I like a challenge and I don’t like to say no. I’m not here for a haircut.”He said he hopes to be part of Bermuda’s culinary revolution. With high rents, he said it’s safe for establishments to stick to “tried and true” food. “When you’re working you do get stuck in a rut of doing the same menu, rinse and repeat,” he said. “I try to take the time to teach myself something new every month, try a new technique. I’ll bake some bread, do some steamed buns. I’ve got a friend who saw something on TV on the other side of the world and they want me to replicate it. I’m always trying to refine my skills.“It’s really cool that Bermuda’s trying to break the same old food on the island and give it a little more spice.”The City Food Festival Chef Competition continues tonight from 5.30pm — 8.30pm, Pier 6 Lower Level. Tickets, $40 at ptix.bm, include canape tasting and signature cocktails.[naviga:ul][naviga:li][/naviga:li][/naviga:ul]