10th Annual Crab & Wine Days

Mendocino Coast Clinics Crab & Wine Days brought hundreds of people to
Pentecost Hall to feast on local delicacies while raising a record
amount of money to support health care for all coastal residents.  The
Crab Cake Cook Off and Wine Tasting event on Saturday had two categories
of awards, those declared the best by professional media judges and the
ever popular People’s Choice Awards, selected by the attendees at
Saturday’s event.  


Chef Marc Dym from Little River Inn won the professional judges crab
cake award and Chef Adam Celaya from Cliff House Restaurant won the
people’s choice award.  Second and third place in the professional
judging went to Chef Cynthia Coleman, V’Canto and Chef Stephan Smith,
Albion River Inn.  Chef Silver Canul, Silver’s at the Wharf won second
in the people’s choice award, with Chef Stephen Smith, Albion River Inn
coming in third.  Other participants included the Assaggiare Mendocino,
Café Beaujolais, Harvest Market, Mendocino Hotel, Oui Cook, The
Restaurant at Stevenswood and The Steak House.  Raven’s at The Stanford
Inn made a vegan crab cake, without using crab and won high praise from
the judges.

Naughty Boy Vineyards won first prize with Navarro Vineyards wines
taking both second and third place.  Attendees at Saturday’s cook-off
also voted for their favorite wine, and the people’s choice award went
to Toulouse Vineyards.  Maple Creek placed second and Handley Cellars
was third.  Twenty two Mendocino County Wineries participated in the
event under the leadership of Mendocino Winegrape & Wine Commission.

This years prestigious professional media judges included Jeff Book,
Coastal Living magazine; Jon Bonne, San Francisco Chronicle; Rob Bhatt,
Journey magazine; Jolene Thym, Bay Area News Group; Dan Warrick, VIA
magazine and Olivia Wu, Google, Inc..  Media and promotional assistance
was provided by the Mendocino County Promotional Alliance (MCPA),
Mendocino County Lodging Association (MCLA) and the Fort Bragg
Promotions Committee.  “We are so pleased to support these events, which
bring people into Fort Bragg and helps MCC provide vital health care,”
said Scott Schneider, MCLA Executive Director.  “It was especially
exciting for us to be able to bring in the world class professional
judges from all over the country to sample our local bounty,” he added.

In addition to the live auction funds raised, Auctioneer Doug Nunn was
able to motivate the Saturday crowd to donate money for the Mendocino
Coast Clinics Laptop Ultrasound Project.  The old ultrasound machine,
donated when MCC assumed the obstetric program three years ago, is so
old it can no longer be repaired.  Efforts are underway to raise $30,000
for the new system, which will improve patient care and staff
efficiency.