News and Upcoming Events

Pinnacle Chef Competes in Culinary Olympics

Crown Point, Indiana – September 18, 2008 – Pinnacle Hospital is pleased to announce its Executive Chef Muhammad Tariq Siddiqui (Sid), will compete in the 2008 Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany October 19-22. Sid will demonstrate his top culinary skill in category b of the competition, culinary art, one of 20 categories in the competition encompassing every area of haute cuisine and pâtissier. This will be the second Culinary Olympics in which Sid has competed.

Sid became the executive chef of Pinnacle Hospital at its inception in June 2007. A culinary and hospitality expert with more than 20 years of experience as a research and development chef, culinary educator and hospitality director, Sid’s preferred style of cooking is regional American.   He is affiliated with the School of Hospitality Business culinary program at Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan.

“We are proud to have our Executive Chef compete in such a prestigious event bringing together the ‘best of the best chefs’ worldwide,” says Pinnacle President and CEO Don Burman. “In the past year, Sid has provided in-room dining to our patients unrivaled in any other hospital setting and now he will prove his talent for culinary arts on a world stage at the 2008 Culinary Olympics.”

Officially named the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA) for the past 100 years, the event is referred to as the Culinary Olympics because it tests chefs the same way as the Olympics. The purpose of the competition is the assessment of chefs’ and pastry chefs’ abilities and performances while offering the public a practical demonstration of the latest developments in culinary art.

Sid will prepare dishes with criteria including:

• Restaurant platter:  prepared hot, displayed cold.
• Menu for one person: consisting of three courses (hors d’oeuvres, main-course, dessert)
• Four different, individually served innovative main-courses

Sids participation in the 2008 Culinary Olympics is being sponsored by Scott Keith, DPM, Lonnie Ailes, MD, Arsenio Favor, MD and Pinnacle Hospital.

About Pinnacle Hospital
Pinnacle Hospital, a physician-owned hospital located in Crown Point, Indiana, offers individuals and families in northern Indiana and Illinois outstanding healthcare in an intimate, patient-centered environment unlike any other in the region. Pinnacle opened in June 2007 and is owned by 53 physicians. With 18 beds and five operating suites and a patient to nurse ratio of 4 to 1, each patient receives the highest quality of care available. A unique collaboration of multi-specialty physicians and medical practitioners, Pinnacle brings together excellent medical and surgical care with an unrivaled dedication to personal service and respect for each person. Pinnacle’s full range of physician specialties range from family practice to oncology, neurology and radiology to orthopedics, urology and nephrology is offered in combination with the latest diagnostic imaging and urgent care facilities.