Top Chef Tour Comes to Santee, Local Chef Wins

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Hundreds of Santee foodies were treated to a on Monday as local chef Brian Malarkey faced off against Tre Wilcox, and the crowd even got to sample a bit of their tasty culinary creations.

The cook-off, Bravo's , was held in a large tent in the and shopping center and featured an 18-wheeler semi-truck and the show-down between two former contestants on the show.

"This is one of the greatest days of the tour, great crowds in Santee!" said the cook-off MC.

Pork was the main ingredient for the day chosen by local Top Chef Facebook fans. The chefs faced each other four times throughout the day.

San Diego chef Brian Malarkey, who has five restaurants in the area, including , cooked up a peach BBQ sauce with watermelon.

Tre Wilcox, of Texas, put together a snap pea puree and cucumber and onion  salad ().

The trailer housed another Top Chef contestant, San Diego Chef Richard Sweeney, who recently opened R-Gang Eatery in Hillcrest. He was re-creating the other chef's dishes so the crowd could try them out.

Three locals judged each competition, and by the end of the day Wilcox and Malarkey tied with two wins a piece.

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