A junior culinary student competed in Napa, Calif. this weekend in the San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition and returned with a $3,000 cash prize. Johnathan Lynch, from Ruston, competed against 10 culinary students from Canada, Italy and the United States and won “Aqua Panna Online Fan Favorite” after receiving the most votes from people viewing the event online.

“It made me feel good that people had liked what they saw online and that I had lots of family and friends supporting me back home,” Lynch said.

Online viewers were able to watch the two-part competition live Saturday and Sunday. In the first part of the contest, called the mystery basket competition, the contestants were given three ingredients: chicken, mushrooms and eggs. From there, they had to create a menu within 15 minutes and then execute it for 10 guests within a two-hour time frame. Lynch created a poached breast of chicken with creole sauce.

In the second part of the competition, called the signature dish competition, the contestants had to prepare a tasting portion of a dish for 200 people. Lynch prepared pan-bronzed supreme of chicken, fried jambalaya risotto cake, roasted tomato petal, sautéed spinach and meuniere sauce.

“I wanted something relatively simple that I thought brought good flavor to it,” Lynch said. “I wanted to take a Louisiana favorite and break it apart.”

Lynch took the recipe for a chicken and sausage jambalaya and prepared the chicken separately with his own version of a Louisiana spice blend. Then he made the jambalaya with a different kind of rice.

Although there were only two parts to the competition, contestants vied for three awards: people’s choice winner, chosen by the people for whom the meals were prepared; the Almost Famous Chef award, given to the person who received the most points in the competition overall; and online fan favorite winner.

Lynch said he actively sought the online fan favorite award, sending Facebook invitations asking people to view the competition online and vote.

“One day I would like to have the opportunity to be on TV, so the fact that people liked what they saw gave me a little boost of confidence,” Lynch said. “If people like me on camera, maybe I’m on the right track.”

Lynch said although he plans to use some of his prize money to purchase new kitchen utensils and to celebrate, he wants to put most of it away in savings.

“I’m going to let the money work for me rather than spend it,” Lynch said.

But before Lynch could make it to the contest in Napa, he competed locally in October against nine others, placing second. From there, he and the first place winner competed regionally in February in Austin, Tx., where Lynch placed first out of six contestants, giving him a bid to the Napa competition.

“I was really stoked,” Lynch said. “I felt very confident about my dish and the way I presented myself.”

However, Randy Cheramie, instructor at the John Folse Culinary Institute, was supposed to accompany Lynch on his trip to California but became ill a few days before they were scheduled to leave.

“It made me want to go and succeed even more, knowing if I was going to do something, I would be doing it all on my own,” Lynch said.

Lynch said he made the most out of his experience in Napa, despite Cheramie’s absence.

“My favorite part was feeding some of the top people from the media and food side of the industry and have them telling me that my food was good, and just seeing the looks on their faces when they ate my food,” Lynch said.

Lynch said he also enjoyed meeting Fabio Viviani from “Top Chef Season 5.”

“Just the fact I was able to hang out with him and talk to him about some things is something I wasn’t expecting at all,” Lynch said. “I got to pick his brain a little bit, and that was something I was not expecting to be able to do.”

After graduation, Lynch wants to cook abroad for a year to gain experience overseas and expose himself to different cuisine. However, ideally, Lynch would like to make his way back to Nicholls to teach.

“What I love about this profession is food, obviously, and the interaction with people and the joy they get from food,” Lynch said. “Teaching would accomplish that as well. Any way I could be involved with people and food is the avenue I want to take.