As one chef returns from a grueling New York cooking competition, a Clovis girl hopes to go to New York City as a finalist in a children’s cooking contest.

Let’s start with the chef. Percy Whatley, executive chef of The Ahwahnee in Yosemite National Park, arrived in California Tuesday after competing at the Bocuse d’Or USA.

Whatley didn’t take the top prize, so he won’t advance to the 2011 international Bocuse d’Or — a biannual event that’s a kind of Olympics in the culinary world.

But he did win the Best Meat category.

“It felt very satisfying, just being recognized,” he says. “There was some serious talent in that pool of chefs.”

Before the awards dinner, Whatley had no idea if he’d win anything. He was behind schedule after the first part of the competition last Friday.

And when the 12 contestants reconvened last Saturday, the officials wouldn’t let them set up equipment before the 21/2 hours reserved for finishing dishes.

That meant Whatley and his assistant, Melissa Marshall, lost precious cooking time to unwrapping little boxes of espresso cups.

“It was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ” Whatley says. “We were just a mess mentally.”

Now, Whatley’s challenge consists of altering his winning food for the Ahwahnee’s menu. The main dish, spiced lamb wrapped in sliced portobello mushrooms, is a crowd pleaser. So is the garnish of braised lamb shank atop Dauphinoise potatoes.

But another garnish, a Pithivier (French pastry) with kidneys and mushrooms, is “a hard sell,” he says. “And some of the composition of the garnishes is a little too intense.”

The Bocuse d’Or-inspired dishes will appear on The Ahwahnee’s menu for a limited time. For reservations, call (209) 372-1489.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that 10-year-old Rachel Granillo of Clovis is a semifinalist in Jif’s “Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest.”

Her sandwich, called “PB & Fruity Says ‘Let Us Rap,’ ” is a lettuce wrap filled with chicken, apples and grapes. The sauce binding it together is peanut butter, mayonnaise and honey.

“Peanut butter is my favorite snack,” Rachel says.

Her inspiration for the sandwich came from a lettuce wrap at a relative’s bridal shower. Rachel tested about a half-dozen versions before settling on the final recipe.

“We tried canned chicken and that was really gross,” she says. “So we tried grilled chicken strips.” Rachel also played with three different types of apples before settling on the sweet Fuji variety. After adding the honey, she knew the lettuce wrap needed no more tinkering.

“Rachel said, ‘Oh, Mom. That’s good. That’s the one,’ ” recalls Diana Granillo, Rachel’s mother. Want to help Rachel advance to the finals? Vote for her sandwich online at jif.com by 8:59 p.m. Friday. Note: Jif limits you to one vote per person and per e-mail address per day.

If Rachel scores in the top five vote-getters, she’ll compete in a cookoff in New York City for the grand prize: a $25,000 scholarship and a Jif gift basket.

The columnist can be reached at jobra@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6365. Read her blog at fresnobeehive.com/author/ joan_obra.