Clean Sweep at Casa Pacifica Festival

Casa Pacifica hosted its annual Angels Wine, Food and Brew Festival on Sunday, June 5, with dozens of food and beverage exhibitors offering up delicious samples of food and drinks. As every year, the cornerstone of the festivities was the Yummie Culinary Competition, featuring judges from all walks of the food industry.

Chef Alex Montoya, executive chef at Honey Cup Coffeehouse and Creamery in Oxnard and Newbury Park, Water’s Edge Restaurant & Bar in Ventura and Waterside Restaurant & Wine Bar in Channel Islands Harbor, won first-place honors in both the Savory and Sweet categories. The combination of Alex’s passion for cooking delicious food and his perfectionist tendencies are has landed him on the map and now solidly in the winner’s circle. Working 90 hours a week allows him ample practice and offers real-time feedback from his customers.

Alex’s father, Mike Montoya, was beaming when asked about his son. “As a parent, I couldn’t be more proud of my son. He started as a dishwasher and then moved on to restaurants in Ventura. If he doesn’t place first, he is already thinking about next year.”

When Alex won first place in the 2021’s Yummie Culinary Competition, it was in the Sweet category. While still enjoying that victory, he was already planning how he could also win in the Savory category this June. He succeeded, he believes, because he stopped overthinking and getting stressed out ahead of the competition. On the morning of the competition, he says, “I came the same way I did last year, but more confident and just in competition with myself.”

The refreshing winning sweet dish was Peaches and Cream Oolong Ice Cream with Lime Caviar from Honey Cup. “I really wanted to get back to a summer flavor. Something really bright and light and refreshing. I just utilized Mother Nature,” he says. “It’s everything inside of a mojito.”

Alex, who finds inspiration in cocktail menus, says he likes to turn adult drinks into nonalcoholic ice cream dishes. “It’s a good way to look at someone else’s beautiful creation and spin it.”

Alex’s winning savory dish from Water’s Edge was an Ahi Poke Ceviche with mango, cucumber, red onion, bell pepper and fresh ahi, brought together with an avocado mousse and blue corn tostada. “I tend to overthink these things, so this year I settled on ‘fresh, summer, simple.’ I knew what the people want and I asked myself how I could give it to them in a way that I would want it. I really went with something very Water’s Edge: very light, very bright.” It is Alex’s opinion that his Szechuan Citrus Ponzu and signature soy sauce pearls are what really made the dish stand out with the judges.

Alex conceived of all three of the dishes in this year’s competition, including Waterside’s Jalapeño Cream Cheese Wonton with El Pastor Sweet and Sour Sauce. Though that dish didn’t place this year, he says it seemed to be a real crowd pleaser that people kept coming back for. He credits his sous chef, Richaro Carreto, for helping come up with and execute the dish. Alex hopes to get a win for Waterside next year because he wants all of his locations to be represented.

“I wanted to place in everything this year so people can see that all of my locations are on the same level.,” he says. “That was what I wanted to achieve.”