VERO BEACH — Chef Scott Varricchio, owner of the Citrus Grillhouse, fought his way into the finals of the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival’s fourth-annual Grand Chef Throwdown Saturday, winning the second spot by 11 Facebook votes.
Varricchio finished with 1039 Facebook “likes,” edging out Kyle Greene, executive chef at Pietro’s on the Ocean in Jensen Beach, who finished with 1028 “likes.”
The contest now turns to cooking, and Varricchio will go head to head on Dec. 17 with Edward Dickens, executive chef at the Emerald Dunes Golf Course in West Palm Beach, who finished first in the voting, and last year’s winner, Eric Grutka, chef and owner of Ian’s Tropical Grill in Stuart.
In the Throwdown, each of the chefs will be given one secret ingredient and told to prepare a dish.
The chef who wins gets a $10,000 grand prize, $5,000 of which is given to the winner’s charity of choice. If Varricchio wins, he plans on giving the winnings to the Vero Beach Food Pantry.
