Food and Drink

Juneau chef wins national seafood award with king crab risotto

Another Alaska chef has been crowned the "King of American seafood."

Lionel Uddipa, executive chef at Juneau's Salt restaurant, earned the title after winning the Great American Seafood Cook-Off competition in New Orleans on Saturday.

Uddipa, who was born in the Philippines and raised in Juneau, beat out 12 other chefs from across the country with risotto featuring Alaska king crab, sea asparagus and chum salmon roe.

Uddipa was selected by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute to represent the state in the competition.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Uddipa said he added dried black seaweed and fermented black cod fish sauce he fermented himself in his restaurant's research and development kitchen to the dish. The crab was smoked with alder and placed in a sealed sphere speared on blueberry sprigs he harvested near Eaglecrest Ski Area.

"There was a lot going on but a lot of thought went into it," Uddipa said. "The execution was easy."

Uddipa isn't the first Alaska chef to win the competition. In 2015 fellow Juneau chef Beau Schooler won the same competition using Alaska salmon. This was the 14th year of the annual cook-off.

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Uddipa said there is no cash prize for winning the championship, only a crown and a few other "goodies" including a set of induction saute pans. But Uddipa said the chance to connect with respected chefs in New Orleans has been a prize all its own.

"It's almost more important than winning the competition," he said.

Suzanna Caldwell

Suzanna Caldwell is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in 2017.

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