Creekstone Farms Presents Fifth Annual Taste of Derby Chef Showdown

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, an established leader in supplying premium USDA-certified beef and pork products, returns this year as the presenting sponsor of the “Chef Showdown” at the Sixth Annual Taste of Derby, the Official Kentucky Derby Event of Churchill Downs, which kicks-off Derby weekend on Thursday, April 30, 2015, in the North Wing Lobby at the Kentucky Exposition Center. The celebrated Kentucky Oaks Eve event will feature 25 nationally recognized chefs who will prepare samples of their regional specialties. Four world-renowned celebrity chefs will come together at the 20-minute showdown competition to judge three culinary student finalists from Sullivan University as they compete for a $5,000 scholarship presented by Creekstone Farms.

“We are excited to partner with Taste of Derby again this year and provide Creekstone Farms’ high-quality products at this nationally revered event,” said Jim Rogers, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Creekstone Farms. “Along with Taste of Derby, we are pleased to announce an all-star lineup for this year’s celebrity chef judges, and are tremendously proud of the three culinary student chefs, as they have already accomplished so much to make it to this stage.”

The 2015 celebrity-judging panel and emcee includes:

• Chef Kevin Gillespie
  Gillespie is the owner of Gunshow in Atlanta’s Glenwood Park neighborhood. Previously, Gillespie held different positions at several well-known restaurants in Atlanta and Portland, OR, before joining the sixth season of Bravo’s Top Chef, where he emerged as a semifinalist and fan favorite. Additionally, Gillespie’s has been named a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year award for three consecutive years, and his second cookbook, Pure Pork Awesomeness, was released in March 2015. This is Gillespie’s first appearance at Taste of Derby.

• Chef Chris Cosentino
  Chris Cosentino, aka @OffalChris, is the chef and co-owner of Cockscomb restaurant in San Francisco. Cosentino is also the co-creator and chef of Boccalone artisanal salumeria and has gained international recognition as a leading expert and proponent of offal cooking. He has been notably featured on the Food Network and is the Season 4 winner of Bravo's Top Chef Masters series, earning over $140,000 for the Michael J. Fox foundation for Parkinson's research. Cosentino's first cookbook Beginnings: My Way to Start a Meal from Olive Press media debuted in 2012 and he is currently working on a title dedicated to offal with writer and photographer Michael Harlan Turkell, to be published by Clarkson Potter in 2016.

• Chef Tim Love
  Love is the owner of several urban-western cuisine restaurants in Texas, including Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Woodshed Smokehouse, Love Shack, White Elephant Saloon and Queenie’s Steakhouse. He is a founding partner of the Austin FOOD & WINE Festival and official chef of Austin City Limits. Love is currently a co-host of CNBC’s newest show, Restaurant Startup, and is a returning Taste of Derby Showdown judge from last year.

• Chef Brooke Williamson
  Williamson is co-owner of Hudson House, The Tripel and Playa Provisions in the southern California area. Williamson is the youngest female chef to cook at the James Beard House, and is also certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers. She recently placed runner-up on Top Chef Season 10 in Seattle and starred as host on MTV’s House of Food.

• Dawn Perry (Emcee)
  Perry is the Digital Food Editor at Bon Appétit. Perry has been influential in fueling the brand's digital growth through popular columns such as “BA’s Best,” which has quickly become a destination for ultimate classic recipes. She is also the lead recipe developer on Bon Appétit’s collaboration with IBM’s Chef Watson. Perry makes regular media appearances including segments on TODAY, CBS This Morning and New York Live.

Creekstone Farms is proud to serve as sponsor for the fifth consecutive year for Taste of Derby, which offers an evening filled with exquisite cuisine, exceptional wine and live entertainment to attendees. Creekstone Farms’ USDA-certified products are supplied and prepared at several of the chef stations throughout the event, including Creekstone’s Black Angus Beef and the new addition of the Creekstone Farms Antibiotic-Free Duroc Pork product line.

The anticipated Chef Showdown begins at 8:30 p.m., when the three culinary students will use the newly introduced Creekstone Farms’ Antibiotic-Free Duroc Pork tenderloin in the challenge to create an award-winning dish in under 20 minutes for the panel of celebrity judges. The student who prepares the best dish based on taste, creativity and presentation will win a $5,000 Sullivan University scholarship and gain bragging rights of being the new Chef Showdown champion.

For more info on Taste of Derby and to purchase tickets, visit www.churchilldowns.com/tickets/taste.

About Creekstone Farms Premium Beef

The choice of food lovers across the world, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC is USDA-certified by the Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) and supplies many of the nation’s top grocers and restaurants with a variety of high-quality meat products, including Black Angus Beef, Antibiotic-Free Duroc Pork and their value-added products. Creekstone Farms exports its premium quality products to Europe, Latin America and Asia, and is owned by Sun Capital Partners, one of America’s largest private investment companies.

To learn more about Creekstone Farms, please contact Christine Tanner at 620-741-3357 or email angusinfo@cfpbeef.com.

About Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs, the world’s most legendary racetrack, has conducted Thoroughbred racing and presented America’s greatest race, the Kentucky Derby, continuously since 1875. Located in Louisville, the flagship racetrack of Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ: CHDN), which offers year-round simulcast wagering at the historic track. Churchill Downs will conduct the 141st running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands on May 2, 2015. The track’s 2015 Spring Meet is scheduled for April 25-June 27. The track has hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships a record eight times. Information about Churchill Downs can be found on the Internet at http://www.kentuckyderby.com/tasteofderby.