On a recent, sparkling Napa Saturday afternoon the Redwood Retirement Home became a culinary battleground with five fine North Bay chefs competing in Holiday Retirement's "Iron Chef 2007" cooking contest, modeled after the popular television series.

The master of ceremonies was Holiday's Regional Manager Tom Aherns, who explained to a large audience that the day's winning chef would go on to a final competition at Holiday's home base in Salem, Ore., where the best would meet the best.

Aherns explained the contests rules, which were clear, but presented a mighty challenge. Each chef had 45 minutes to create a plate with the same ingredients, which were covered in a basket until the starting bell rang.

The chefs' batting order was formidable: Jim Bertilucci represented the Springs of Napa; Sandi Philips, Oakmont in Chico; Corrina Covert, Feather Canyon in Paradise; Edgar Duero, Vineyard Commons in Santa Rosa and Redwood's own master chef, Danny Aoki.

Timekeeper Sonia Daugherty gave the starting signal and referee Joe Hagman kept close watch as the five chefs uncovered their baskets and began to create their own innovative specialty dish out of the beef, fish, couscous (which looked like rice to me,) green peppers, onions and sweet potatoes.

Three judges labored at that contest, and let me tell you, scoring points for presentation, creativity and taste was not an easy task when savoring the creations of five master chefs.

I know because I was one of those judges.

My judge colleagues were Alexandre Trovain, chief instructor at the California Culinary Institute and Barbara Aherns, a seasoned observer of Holidays' top chefs. And then, there was me!

I wondered why Redwood's managers, Gary and Misty Batten and co-managers Jack and Cathy Walpole (both originally from Queens, N. Y.) wanted me to be a "Celebrity judge" at a cooking contest.

"Some celebrity," I chuckled. But that mystery was quickly cleared up. I learned that my friend, Al Fournier, a proud veteran of the US Air Force in World War II and Korea, had given me up. He knew that this New York transplant had dined many times in New York's Little Italy, China Town, not to mention Fraunces Tavern (where George Washington once supped), Sardi's in the theater district, Tavern on the Green in Central Park and Rosita's in Spanish Harlem. So in the eyes of Al and my new Redwood friends, that made me an expert on food, or so they thought.

All five chefs completed their cooking within the 45-minute time line, and all five dishes were superb. Scoring points in terms of the plates set before us was no easy task. But, decisions had to be made, and so the winner turned out to be Edgar Duero of Vineyard Commons.

Duero's salmon entree atop flavored sweet potatoes, along with couscous, green peppers and a touch of onion earned the most points in a contest so close you couldn't cut it with a knife.

There really weren't any losers, only a champion and four contenders who haven't been crowned yet.

Ev Parker can be reached at evjenpar@mailbug.com or 224-9956