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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Seth VanderLaan, banquet chef at Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee, prepares his fish. Seth's dish was both the judges' and attendees' top choice.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Scott Graden, executive chef at New Scenic Café in Duluth, prepares his fillets.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
The team from At Sara's Table Chester Creek Café in Duluth.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Avery Cassar, executive chef for At Sara's Table Chester Creek Café in Duluth.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Tom Linderholm, executive chef at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Tom Linderholm, executive chef at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Scott Graden of Duluth's New Scenic Café plates his food for the judges.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
With seconds to spare, Scott Graden of Duluth's New Scenic Café garnishes his dish.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
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Judges Juli Kellner and Donald Miller talk with chef Scott Graden.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
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The tasty results after a frenetic hour of cooking.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Guests used pebbles to vote for their favorite dish.
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Phil Bencomo / Lake Superior Magazine
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Michael Monroe performed during the tasting event.
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Paul L. Hayden / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
A guest samples a dish.
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Paul L. Hayden / Lake Superior Magazine
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Avery Cassar, executive chef at At Sara's Table Chester Creek Café in Duluth, serves samples of his dish.
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Paul L. Hayden / Lake Superior Magazine
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Seth VanderLaan won top honors from both the judges and attendees.
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Paul L. Hayden / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Duluth Mayor Don Ness and his wife, Laura.
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Paul L. Hayden / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Sampling the bounty of the Big Lake.
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Paul L. Hayden / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Fish Classic
Robert Wohlfeil, executive chef at Oceanaire Seafood Room in Minneapolis.
Last Friday, chefs from Minnesota and Wisconsin converged in Duluth for a culinary battle that showcased the bounty of the Big Lake. Chef Seth VanderLaan, from Milwaukee’s Potawatomi Bingo Casino, was both the judges’ top pick and the people’s choice winner at the third Lake Superior Fish Classic.
The event, organized by the Minnesota and Wisconsin sea grants, had previously been held in the Twin Cities, but Minnesota Sea Grant’s Sharon Moen says, “There was a strong call for it to be brought home to the shores of Lake Superior.”
Local chefs Tom Linderholm (University of Minnesota Duluth), Avery Cassar (At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Café) and Scott Graden (New Scenic Café) also had strong showings and inventive entrées.
The seven chefs had to incorporate whitefish and cisco (also known as lake herring) into their recipes. Judges rated participants on their food and technique. After the judging, guests tried samplers from each chef and voted for their favorite.
+ Minnesota Sea Grant and Northland’s NewsCenter announced a fish recipe contest. Get your entries in by October 31.
Shutdown
John Pepin, for The Mining Journal:
As the peak of fall color tourism season arrives, the federal government shutdown has forced the closure of national parks and wildlife refuges from Pictured Rocks to the Huron Islands to Isle Royale in the Upper Peninsula. … However, on Saturday, park visitors were disregarding closed signs, police-style tape, construction barrels and hazard cones put up by Pictured Rocks staff.
+ John talked to Michigan Public Radio about the government shutdown.
+ The Mining Gazette on the effects of the shutdown in the Upper Peninsula.
+ Sixty years after it sank near Thunder Bay, the freighter Scotiadoc has been found by the same group that discovered the coveted wreck of the Henry B. Smith this year. The Duluth News Tribune has the story.
+ The winners of the Highway 61 Film Festival have been announced. “Sled Dogs to St. Paul,” a documentary feature by Grand Marais filmmakers Patrick Knight and Kelly Schoenfelder, won a second-place award.
+ Photographer Paul Sundberg’s fall road trip to the Upper Peninsula.
+ Marquette is one of the top mountain bike towns in the U.S., says USA Today.