World Shore Lunch winners crowned
More than 1,200 dishes served during fish-frying event
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Afghanistan-veteran-turned-fishing-guide Jocelyn Demetre can now boast he holds the title of World Shore Lunch Champion.
The man who retired from 20 years as an infantryman won the bragging rights during a fish-frying competition held at the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre on Saturday.
Demetre - whose company Great Slave Lake Safaris was crowned winner both by a panel of judges and the people's choice award - said he served 300 plates of whitefish with bannock. His winning dish featured a chunky whitefish chowder served with pesto, bannock and a zest of lemon, along with a virgin mojito for refreshment.
"We were very busy. It was non-stop. It was a sprint for three or four hours. Everybody was running out of stock," said Demetre.
Tracy Therrien, executive director for the Northern Frontier Visitors Association - which runs the fish-fry as its primary fundraising event - said the second annual competition was a hit with more than 1,200 dishes served by the eight competing kitchens.
"Three of them competed in the professional category and then we had five in the hobbyist class," she said.
Therrien said the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and NWT Tourism partnered with the event this year in the hope of building it into a world-renowned competition.
Fly-fishing champion Donny Boake was brought in to demonstrate fly tying and a fish-printing station was set up where colourful prints were made by covering fish in paint and slapping them against a piece of paper.
"We want to make it so it's an honour to hold the title of 'World Shore Lunch Champion,' she said, adding that in the future she hopes the competition will grow enough to be held at the Somba K'e Civic Plaza. All the fish served came from waters near Yellowknife or Hay River, said Therrien.
Demetre started his business less than a year ago and has been thrilled by its success. He said after retiring from the army as a captain he decided to settle his family in Yellowknife about four years ago. A year into his dream-plan of being a fishing guide, he said he can't believe how well he's doing.
"Last week I had some people from New York, yesterday it was people from Texas and I just had a couple from Germany book me for next month," he said. "Yellowknife. It's hard to beat."
Demetre said he believes the event will grow.
"There's a lot of people doing shore lunch in this city," he said. "I think it will be the biggest event. I have no doubt about it."
Demetre said fresh-water and cold-water fish are what will draw fish connoisseurs to Yellowknife.
"I was just guiding a group yesterday and we caught a couple of trout in Yellowknife Bay," he said.
"And we kept one for eating. The people, who were from Texas, they told me the trout - when they touched it - it was so cold and pink."
Bryan Chorostkowski, owner of Namushka Lodge, won the 'hobbyist' prize for flash frying cornflake-crumb-covered whitefish and serving it with lemon tarts and a spicy Asian salad. He said there were a lot of hungry people.
"We had a steady lineup of people all the way through the first half of the afternoon," he said.
