SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — The top 25 butchers in the nation competing for the 2023 Meat Cutter Challenge grand prize of $25,000 will be in Nevada next week to face off for the final round.
Whoever ends up in the top five gets a chance to win the grand prize, and two of the contenders are in the Sacramento area.
Ezequiel Manzanares of Citrus Heights and Oscar Soto of Elk Grove were among those to end up in the top 25 butchers during a competition in October.
Soto told ABC10 he's been cutting meat for almost 10 years and serves the best food he can whether it's for the customers at his Texas Roadhouse or whether he's cooking for his kids.
"Yeah, one thinks about the money—but you're also cooking wonderful things and you want to make the best food possible," he said in Spanish. "My family is happy for me and they're wishing me luck that everything goes well."
He started off making salads, Soto said, then he moved on to learning everything else about the kitchen he works in.
"Right now, I'm concentrated on the food coming out good, everything else comes after," he said.
