From left to right: sous Mason Macdonald, chef Jason Sawison, Stofa Restaurant; chef Jaeyoung (Jay) Park, sous Jungun Yang, Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar; chef Jonathan Williams, sous Shaya Ilgacs, Park Hyatt Toronto.
Ottawa is a busy place on the last weekend of January. The flight was filled with ringette competitors, the Rideau Canal chock a block with skaters enjoying the winter sunshine and Winterlude was in full swing—we had chance to see chef Steve Buzak (Royal Glenora Club) carving ice sculptures.
We are here for the food—10 competitors, all winners at their regional Kitchen Party events gather with their sous for the Canadian Culinary Championships (CCC). It’s a lot. We start with the Mystery Wine event on Friday—chefs are given an unidentified wine and a $700 budget to feed over 300 people, followed by the early Saturday morning Black Box and the Saturday night Grande Finale Gala.
We judges taste both the Mystery Wine and the Black Box elements blind, and we judges try to get some sleep and fit in a workout around all the food and drink.
Our Kitchen Party winner, Tyson Wright (The Old Red Barn), did not place, but he looked just as happy and excited at the end as he did at the beginning—that’s a professional.
Kitchen Party and the CCC showcases some of Canada’s best wines and raises funds for Spirit North and MusiCounts. The competition was stiff and extremely technical. Senior judges from the podium cities, Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa, talk about the medalists and their dishes.
BRONZE
Jason Sawision,
Stofa Restaurant, Ottawa
Grand Finale Dish:
Seared scallops with adobo, taro Aji Amarillo fritters, chorizo shrimp toast, and roasted poblano pepper sauce.
Grand Finale Wine Pairing:
De Simone Motivation Fume Blanc 2021, Four Mile Creek, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON
Ottawa chef Jason Sawision earned his bronze medal at the 2026 Canadian Culinary Championship with the same calm precision and assured technique that have defined his career. Long before leading his own kitchen, Jason served as Marc Lepine’s sous chef, competing with the Atelier team in Kelowna in 2012 and 2016, where they captured gold both times. This year marked his return, now as a chef with his own voice. His Grand Finale dish was a vibrant expression of that voice: layered, confident, boldly seasoned and completely harmonious.
As Jason noted, “This dish really speaks to the style of food at Stofa.”
Throughout the weekend, he remained calm and focused, leading his team of Algonquin culinary students in the Mystery Wine event and the Grand Finale, and rising to the challenge alongside his sous chef during the Black Box competition. His bronze medal feels not only deserved, but a natural next step for one of Ottawa’s most thoughtful and disciplined chefs.
–Cory Haskins,
Ottawa Senior Judge
SILVER
Chef Jonathan Williams,
Park Hyatt Toronto
Grand Finale Dish:
Beef short rib pastrami, a very good carrot, rye crumble, horseradish cream
Grand Finale Wine Pairing:
2020 Leaning Post Syrah, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
As a globally trained chef and certified sommelier, it would be easy to credit Jonathan Williams’ pursuit of excellence to his Michelin-level experience at London’s The Clove Club, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, and his rise to chef de cuisine at the revered, now‑shuttered Hedone. But following his path from Toronto’s Richmond Station to executive chef of Park Hyatt Toronto, and factoring in his passion for wine and charcuterie (he cures his own prosciutto), it becomes clear that his relentless drive to learn has shaped his precise, ingredient‑driven culinary style. That drive was on full display at this year’s competition, from his elegant duck and pork pâté en croûte for the Mystery Wine challenge (which he correctly identified onstage) to his regional-winning finale plate.
For his finale dish, Williams stayed true to the style of cooking he’s honed at Park Hyatt Toronto’s Joni Restaurant.
“I wanted it to be approachable ingredients (beef, carrots, horseradish) but show off as many intricate techniques as possible. My finale dish is on the Joni menu now, so anyone can come and taste it any day.”
His main course appeared deceptively simple but popped with intense flavours thanks to a series of time-consuming techniques. Beef short rib from Martin’s Family Farm (Elora, Ontario) was brined for a week, air-dried, then coated in coffee shio koji, a natural tenderizer that also enhances umami, and a pastrami-style dry rub of coriander, black pepper and warm spices. The meat was smoked low and slow for 10 hours before, then cooked for another 48 hours. While the protein alone took more than 10 days to prepare, it was the very good carrot that nearly stole the show.
Organic carrots from Pfennings Farms were cooked in fresh carrot juice, lightly dehydrated, then rehydrated in reduced carrot juice—a step that firms the texture while concentrating flavour. Showing that the humblest ingredient can be given the greatest respect, the super carrots were glazed in a sweet, barbecue sauce-like reduction made from the remaining carrot juice and brightened with a splash of Niagara’s Minus 8 Icewine Vinegar. The result left judges buzzing about how intense and carroty a carrot could be.
To bring the dish together, Williams added a rye crumble—cheekily noting “because pastrami and rye are best friends,” plus pickled onions, a horseradish and onion fluid gel, and a tableside pour of smoked fat-enriched beef jus. To pair with these bold flavours, Williams chose his favourite Canadian Syrah from Leaning Post, a wine whose floral and dark fruit notes amplify the carrot’s sweetness, has smooth tannins and acidity that cuts through the short ribs’ richness, and smoke and pepper notes which complement the pastrami seasoning.
“CCC was an amazing experience,” Williams says. “Competing against nine other extremely talented chefs really pushed us to our limits. I’m glad I got to showcase Park Hyatt Toronto—just cooking good food and trying to bring more recognition to Park Hyatt and Joni Restaurant.”
–Renée Suen,
Toronto Senior Judge
GOLD
Chef Jaeyoung (Jay) Park,
Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar, Vancouver, British Columbia
Grand Finale Dish:
Degustation of Wingtat Canada Chicken
Grand Finale Wine Pairing:
2023 Tantalus Chardonnay | East Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Deep respect for the mentorship that helped guide his professional development. Soulful desire to share the cuisine of his Korean heritage. Relentless determination. Chef Jaeyoung (Jay) Park’s quest to be the sixth Canadian Culinary Champion from Vancouver was rooted in this confluence of sincerity, heart and singular focus.
Some of Park’s most treasured memories are of his grandparents’ farm in South Korea, where family gathered several times a year to help cultivate rice. Whenever honoured guests came to visit, his grandparents would serve dishes made with their farm-raised chicken, giving pride of place to what many might consider a humble ingredient.
It’s rather poetic, then, that he wore his heart on his sleeve in choosing Wingtat Canada’s Loong Koong chicken as the foundation for his spectacular Finale dish. Park distilled the trajectory of his culinary journey into five jewel-like bites—a harmonious interplay of bold Korean flavours with the great precision and balance of classical French and Italian technique.
Poulet pressé braised thigh with slow-cooked five-spice breast meat, yellow chicken liver terrine, and consommé gelée. Binchotan-grilled chicken heart glazed with gochujang and studded with rice pearls. A butternut squash globe accented with charred radicchio jam. An impeccably crisp chicken-skin tartlet, airdried for six days and filled with chicken-liver mousse and quince jam. And lush chicken jus with garlic-and-thyme-infused chicken fat.
“It’s a huge achievement for sure. After all the struggle and countless hours of practice, I’m so proud to put my name beside my mentors on that national trophy,” reflects Park. “The most important thing now is for me to step up and pass on to the next generation of cooks what was so generously taught to me. It’s my turn to keep it going.”
–Joie Alvaro Kent,
Vancouver Senior Judge