Local culinary students work among the pros at Taste of the Draft
A night before some of the top college football players got picked to advance to the next level, local high school culinary students got the chance to work alongside some of the top local and national names in their fields.
At Wednesday鈥檚 Taste of the Draft event, kids from the Fayette County Career & Technical Institute, Greene County Career & Technology Center and Mon Valley Career & Technology Center served and plated food and got to meet Steelers legends and other celebrities.
Wednesday鈥檚 dinner in downtown Pittsburgh boasted an array of dishes from more than 20 notable national and local chefs.
The event, now in its second year, raised funds for the non-profit GENYOUth, which works to combat food insecurity throughout the region.
High school programs earned their spot through a competition held by the American Dairy Association North East and the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation鈥檚 ProStart program.
Students from Mon Valley responded to the challenge of creating a dish using dairy by making a jalapeno popper with a fried deviled egg and bacon bits.
Dominic Booth-Guadlap, a senior at Ringgold High School, and three of his classmates were assigned to assist Mark Bucher, the co-owner of Washington D.C., steak-and-frites restaurant Medium Rare.
They formed an assembly line to plate 500 of his World Champion beef bacon jam sliders. Booth-Guadlap put the bacon jam onto the slider before passing it to a classmate who added a potato chip.
鈥淚鈥檝e helped my chef cater for a wedding before, and then other catering events that we鈥檝e done at Mon Valley CTC, but nowhere to the amount of 500,鈥� he said.
The booths were arrayed outside the Tower at PNC Plaza, where attendees could wander around grabbing bites and talk with the football stars stationed throughout.
Austin Baker, a senior at Waynesburg Central High School, is no stranger to big events, having been part of the Greene County CTC team that helped prepare a presidential inauguration dinner.
Wednesday night, he put a mayonnaise garnish on bacon inari sushi from Teppanyaki Kyoto.
The restaurants had done much of the prep work, which made things easier. And the relaxed atmosphere also put people at ease. He relished the chance to work with Pittsburgh restaurants on some of their signature dishes, and also to meet with NFL stars, which made the experience 鈥渢hat much better.鈥�
鈥淚t was very action-packed, but at the same time it was one of the most relaxed events I鈥檇 say I鈥檝e ever done,鈥� he said.
Relaxed as it was, it still added up to a long day. Fayette County CTI students left the school at 6 a.m. and returned around 9 p.m., said culinary instructor Jake Grim.
He said the event helped them meet professional chefs and see how top crews pull together for a common goal at a fast-paced, important event.
鈥淚n class, it鈥檚 kind of controlled, and I can control the students, and control the outcome there,鈥� Grim said. 鈥淭here, somebody might be, 鈥楬ey, this soup鈥檚 cold.鈥� They had to work fast and efficiently, but at the same time, they had to work for a long time.鈥�
Students from Fayette County鈥檚 CTI rotated between numerous stations, from cornbread with honey to tzatziki with meatballs and a fennel salad.
鈥淚t was easy, but sometimes challenging, because you don鈥檛 want to mess up,鈥� said Khloe Burnworth, an 11th-grade student at Uniontown Area High School.
It wasn鈥檛 all just work. During breaks, students got to wander around and meet with the celebrity chefs and NFL greats, who signed commemorative footballs given to the guests. The culinary students also got signatures on their aprons.
They also got to sample some of the other dishes, like a sriracha macaroni and cheese or one of the hundreds of cookie varieties at a Pittsburgh cookie table.
It was a 鈥渙nce-in-a-lifetime opportunity鈥� for students to work alongside top chefs, said Julia Harhai, instructor for the culinary program at Mon Valley CTC.
It gave students looking to advance into a culinary career a chance to show their talent and work ethic for prominent people in the industry.
鈥淭hey were rock stars out there 鈥� they were just knocking out those dishes pretty much all night long,鈥� Harhai said.
Greene County CTC culinary arts instructor Dan Wagner agreed the night was a great opportunity for students.
鈥淭hey came up and they鈥檙e just adding the final touches to those people鈥檚 dishes, and they鈥檙e communicating with the guest, and they鈥檙e communicating and talking with the chefs and networking with the chefs,鈥� he said.
Booth-Guadlap, who plans to attend the culinary program at Westmoreland County Community College, also picked up pointers that could help him in his career.
He asked Bucher how he became successful in the industry. His advice: 鈥淪tay simple and make the things people love, not the things you want to be made.鈥�
The advice resonated with him.
鈥淧ersonally, I鈥檓 not big into tomatoes,鈥� Booth-Guadlap said. 鈥淪o if I were to force someone else to eat tomatoes that doesn鈥檛 like it, they wouldn鈥檛 eat it.鈥�
Appropriately for an NFL Draft event, some students were already being scouted for the pros.
Wagner said the owner of Tina鈥檚 Bar & Restaurant in Bloomfield had raved about a student who helped with their spring panzanella.
鈥淭he chef comes over to me and says, 鈥楾his kid talks to me like I haven鈥檛 had someone talk to me in years,'鈥� Wagner said. 鈥溾�e says, 鈥楬e has a passion for food and everything. I want to hire him.'鈥�