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Portland eateries Ugly Duckling at Rising Tide and Sur Lie bested their competitors at the 2026 Maine Lobster Chef of the Year competition Friday, one of the main events of the annual Harvest on the Harbor food and beverage festival.

Chef Cullen Stileski of Ugly Duckling at Rising Tide won the Judges’ Selection award. His winning dish was a Lobster Puff featuring duck-fat-poached Maine lobster in a black pepper gougère with crispy prosciutto, pickled onion and brown-butter béarnaise.

Stileski, who has more than a decade of experience in scratch kitchens and farm-to-table cooking, heads up Ugly Duckling’s food truck at Rising Tide Brewery in Portland.

Sur Lie Chef Sam Helmke won the People’s Choice award with lobster tacos featuring Maine-style lobster salad, corn tortillas, sweet chili, avocado, breakfast radish and wasabi tobiko.

A South Portland native, Helmke has also cooked at Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, and Portland’s former 555 and Paper Tiger.

Chef Nick Kimball of Brix + Brine in Ogunquit was named the People’s Choice runner-up. His dish was Maine lobster with Japanese milk bread, browned butter, Kewpie mayo, truffle salt, togarashi and yuzu tobiko.

The competition included a total of 10 chef teams representing restaurants and culinary arts programs around Maine.