McKees Rocks chef competes in national cooking contest
When it comes to cooking, Jackie Page is all about spreading the love.
On Saturday, the proprietor of Love Rocks Cafe in McKees Rocks competed in New Orleans in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off and put her interpretation of “love on a plate” to impress the judges.
The event, now in its 18th year, was created by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board and promotes domestic sustainable seafood.
“You have to use fish from your area, so I’m doing steelhead trout with rainbow trout” woven together like a tic-tac-toe board with X’s and O’s for hugs and kisses, Ms. Page said earlier this week.
“Then I’m doing my tricolor quinoa in the shape of a heart and multicolor carrots and a mushroom ragu. It’s a play on the idea that America is not a melting pot — each individual item is great by itself — but when you put them together, they make something even better,” she added. “And it’s kind of like love on a plate.”
Wholey’s in the Strip District shipped Ms. Page fish as she squared off against 12 chefs from around the country. Eleven are from near the coast and thus have easier access to seafood than landlocked Pittsburgh, and one is from
U.S. territory Guam, an island.
“Imagine what he’s gonna bring,” she quipped before the competition.
All of the past winners are from coastal states, and that held again: Chef Austin Sumrall from White Pillars Restaurant in Biloxi, Miss., was the winner with a dish of Gulf snapper prepared three ways.
Ms. Page was one of two women and the only Black chef in the competition. She previously competed in 2019 and felt like the proverbial fish out of water.
“These chefs are like ‘Top Chef’ winners and have been on TV, and I keep thinking, ‘ How did I get here?’”
She credits her friendship with Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and second lady Gisele Fetterman, who promoted her for the event. This time around, she was quite a bit more confident and relaxed, and she looked forward to simply enjoying the experience.
Michelle Kenney, the mother of the late Antwon Rose II, was to accompany her and act as her sous chef during the competition, but her flight was cancelled and, in an unexpected twist, Mrs. Fetterman was instead Ms. Page’s assistant.
“I’m excited. My plating has gotten better. I’ve really worked on that to make it look a little more upscale,” Ms. Page said, prior to the competition. ”I’m gonna go down and cook my food and do what I’m gonna do.”
She didn’t win, but the trip and recognition are a welcome respite from the past 17 months of keeping her small diner solvent during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s been hell,” she said. She’s stayed afloat via various grants including one from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, as well as programs run by the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Heinz Endowments and Sustainable Pittsburgh to prepare and cook meals for needy seniors, kids and families.
“Thirty- five- thousand meals went out of this kitchen” in the past year, she said.
That kind of challenge is nothing new to Ms. Page, who became a chef in 2014 at age 47.
“Having a child with special needs kept me from even having a full-time job,” she said.
After her daughter got older, she was able to pursue her dream. Ms. Page’s sister, Raquel, encouraged her to go back to school to study culinary arts, and she graduated in 2014. Raquel died from cancer a year later; Ms. Page hopes to someday open a restaurant dedicated to her memory.
“I made it my business to put myself in a position to do better and be better,” Ms. Page said.
“It’s a male-dominated field. That was one of my problems, and I was older when I got into this. I couldn’t get a job anywhere because they thought I was old and not capable of doing it.
“Now I run circles around some of these places,” Ms. Page said, adding with a wry smile: “That’s what you get for messing with me.”