At the sixth annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off, Tory McPhail, executive chef of Commander's Palace in New Orleans, won first place with his Creole Seafood Mixed Grill (pictured below).

Tory McPhail's winning Creole Seafood Mixed Grill contained Louisiana sheepshead, shrimp and crabmeat

New Jersey’s Peter Fischbach, executive chef for Gourmet Dining Services at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, took second place with his Pan-seared Viking Village day-boat sea scallops with chili-herb grits, warm pickled root vegetables, apple wood bacon, micro greens and corn velouté; and Alaska’s Patrick Hoogerhyde, executive chef of WildFin Seagrill in Anchorage, won third with his Wild Alaska King Salmon with cranberry-infused birch syrup molasses and Susitna Valley potato hash nested in Alaska summer greens.

(l to r) Chef John Currence of City Grocery Restaurant Group, Oxford, Miss., and the 2008 Great American Seafood king, poses with 2009 winner chef Tory McPhail of Commanders Palace Restaurant and his assistant, chef Jonathan Schmidt

The cook-off featured 15 teams preparing a domestic seafood dish that illustrated the cuisine of their home state. National Marine Fisheries Service, the event's main sponsor, uses the cook-off to highlight the importance of sustainable seafood harvest and end overfishing in the United States.