Steven DeKay, chef at Maggie's on the Prom in Seaside.

SEASIDE —Some jobs really are a piece of cake. The region’s best chefs and their teams assembled Tuesday night for the premier local dining competition, Iron Chef Goes Coastal, at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center.

Seaside’s Sea Star Gelato presented a real Hood strawberry cheesecake at the ninth-annual competition. “You got to try it,” Tracy Nye said. “Oregon is the best berry-growing area of the world and Hood strawberries are the granddaddy of them all. They’re only in season two weeks out of the year so they’re pretty special.”

At their side, the Christian Culinary Academy of Cannon Beach was prepared for the competition.

The academy’s president and chef Ira Krizo and students offered profiteroles, which he described “as a miniature cream puff that has cognac, almond extracts and vanilla extracts.” The chef adds a cherry and Cabernet sauce with some amaretto vanilla candied almonds on the side.

The Iron Chef Goes Coastal event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for Clatsop County United Way, according to United Way Board Member Christine Lolich.

The goal is to raise $50,000, Lolich said, through ticket sales, silent auction and raffle. Food, wine and beer were donated by participating restaurants. All of the proceeds go to the county’s United Way to support local nonprofits. Jim Coffee, deputy director of Cowlitz Family Health Center, won the open judge’s seat for $1,700 in a lively auction.

“It’s more than a food event,” Clatsop County United Way Executive Director Jennifer Holen added. “Right here, this is community,”

Chef contestants were given one hour to cook and prepare three courses: a soup or salad, appetizer and entree. After serving, five judges had 10 minutes to taste and finalize their scorecards. Audience members were asked to select their favorite appetizer and dessert.

Jeff Graham, the executive chef at Fort George Brewery and Public House, celebrated sustainable and local cuisine.

“Our chickens are grown 15 miles away in Svensen,” Graham said. “We get them the same day they are slaughtered. They’re fresh as can be, pasture-raised.”

Graham, who arrived at the brewery in January, presented guests with an appetizer of confit pork belly cured for 24 hours and cooked in its own fat.

“It’s served with mustard made with our Plaid Scotch Ale, pickles made with our Optimist IPA,” Graham said. “We’ve made a malt vinegar with Optimist, and we made the pickles with that. And we have a tomato marmalade, some chicharrónes and some lavash crackers. You get the spicy, the heat, the vinegar, the sugars from the marmalade and rich pork.”

Chef Steven DeKay of Maggie’s on the Prom in Seaside offered a honey-butter sea scallop served on a bed of roasted corn and chilled orzo salad with strawberry relish.

“I selected this dish because it’s one of the most popular dishes at the restaurant,” DeKay said. “We serve a really nice large scallop and we know how to prepare it. We really wanted to show people how a scallop should be cooked.”

Myles Penfold of Twisted Fish, participating in his fifth Iron Chef competition, served an appetizer of basil-marinated tenderloin on a hazelnut cracker with yellow-roasted tomato spread garnished with goat cheese, hazelnuts and balsamic and rainbow microgreens.

The concept originated during the steak special night at the restaurant on Broadway in Seaside. “I wanted to do a little twist on the dinner special and this is what I came up with,” Penfold said.

The Iron Chef event helps chefs up their game, Penfold said, by allowing them to see other chefs in action. “It helps you broaden your aspect on food.”

“It gets us the positive exposure, getting your name out there for a great cause as well,” Maggie’s on the Prom owner Sadie Mercer added. “It’s not often you get 600 people in one room, many of which never knew we existed. To be able to present our best and something great at that moment, it’s a great opportunity.”

Aaron Bedard of the Stephanie Inn Dining Room and Chef Josh Archibald of the Wayfarer, both of Cannon Beach, teamed up to present an all-natural free-range chicken appetizer.

“We’ve done a classic cured and confit method,” Bedard said. “We cured it for a couple of hours, cooked it in duck fat until it’s nice and tender, then we’ve topped it with locally foraged chanterelle mushrooms and a little bit of petite herbs dressed in Oregon olive oil and Jacobsen’s sea salt as well.”

“This is a really great event for us,” Bedard said. “In our small community that’s what it’s all about. It’s community coming together and helping each other and supporting each other. We’re really happy to be a part of it, and to be part of our small community.”

Best dessert: Frite and Scoop

Best appetizer: Silver Salmon

Best table presentation: Fort George

Best beverage: Public Coast

Best chef: Team of John Sowa and Jonathan Hoffman