Rain or Shine Tonight: The “Panini-Off” Is On

Admittedly, the “benefit” portion of this program is a bit flimsy (10% of food & bev proceeds) but we’ll go ahead and pass it along because it involves hot sandwiches on a rainy night.

From the press release:

“After a thorough review of countless entries, Coral Tree Café is proud to announce the five finalists for its inaugural Panini-Off recipe competition. They are Tsz Chan of Temple City, Chloe Coscarelli of Los Angeles, Cecilia Fabulich of Marina del Rey, Michael Haddad of Burbank, and Nico Juber of Los Angeles. The final recipes include:

The Holiday Ham Panini (Chan)
Mango Masala Panini (Coscarelli)
Shanghai Spice Pork Loin Panini (Fabulich)
Breakfast Panini with Egg, Prosciutto, Gruyere and Chive Oil Panini (Haddad)
Nico’s Perfect Panini (Juber).

The five finalists will prepare and cook their paninis live before a panel of esteemed judges on January 19, 2010 at the Westside Coral Tree Café location at 11645 San Vicente Boulevard, Brentwood, CA 90049. The “Panini-Off” finals competition will take place from 8 to 10:30pm and is open to the public. The day of the event finals will also act as a fundraiser where a portion of that entire business day’s gross revenue will go to the Widows, Orphans & Disabled Firemen’s Fund which is part of the Los Angeles Firemen’s Relief Association. The winner of the Panini-Off will have their recipe on the Brentwood café menu board and receive a $250 gift certificate to Coral Tree Café.

The Panini-Off winner will be selected by an experienced panel of judges from the food industry including Coral Tree Café co-founder Robert Niksefat, Senior Editor Mar Yvette of CitySearch Los Angeles, Founder of FoodGPS.com Joshua Lurie, Co-Editor Lindsay William-Ross of LAist.com, and CEO and Founder of Chefmakers Cooking Academy Richard Klein. The five finalists will be at their designated “Panini station” situated inside the Brentwood café’s main dining room where they will prepare their Panini masterpieces for the judges, as well as for the attending general public free of charge.

It is encouraged that contest attendees purchase food and beverages from the Café since ten percent (10%) of the day’s gross revenue will be given to the Widows, Orphans & Disabled Firemen’s Fund which offers supports for family members of firefighters injured or killed in the line of duty.

Coral Tree Café Brentwood is located at 11645 San Vicente Boulevard.

EDITOR’S NOTE: You can also visit LAFRA.org to donate.