NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Chefs from across the country gathered in New Orleans to show off their skills in preparing seafood dishes at the 2009 Great American Seafood Cook-Off, and New Orleans culinary master Tory McPhail took the top prize.McPhail, executive chef of the acclaimed Commander’s Palace, nabbed first place among 15 contenders in the contest held last weekend and was crowned “King of American Seafood.” McPhail’s winning dish was a Creole seafood mixed grill, combining Louisiana sheepshead, shrimp and crabmeat. Peter Fischbach, executive chef for Gourmet Dining Services at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, N.J., captured second place with a sea scallop, chili-herb grits and bacon dish; while Alaska’s Patrick Hoogerhyde, executive chef of WildFin Seagrill in Anchorage took third with a dish melding wild Alaska King Salmon with cranberry-infused birch syrup molasses.