The Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie competition to be held in Lyon, France in January 2013, is the baking and pastry equivalent of the prestigious Bocuse d’Or for culinary chefs. The CIA at Greystone’s own pastry instructor Stephen Durfee has been selected to be part of the team representing the United States at the competition. He spent countless hours preparing for the competition to select the U.S. team held in Grand Rapids, MI. With the prescribed theme of “communication” guiding him, Chef Durfee prepared a chocolate entrement, a restaurant-style dessert, and a sculpture in chocolate—all with Batman’s Bat Signal as part of each entry. The judges were so impressed that they tapped him to be the member of the American team who will create the chocolate sculpture at the competition in Lyon, France. Chef Durfee will be joined there by Andy Chlebana of Joliet Junior College in Joliet, IL and Christophe Feyt of the Paris Las Vegas hotel in Las Vegas, NV.
Chef Durfee has received many accolades during his career. He was part of the opening team for the French Laundry in 1994, won the James Beard Award for pastry Chef of the Year in 1998, and was named on of the 10 Best Pastry Chefs in American in 1999 by Pastry Art & Design and Chocolatier magazines.