Almost Home to host fundraiser for Area 30 culinary arts students

Courtesy photo The state champion Area 30 Career Center culinary arts team will move on to national competition in the Indiana ProStart/FCCLA Culinary and Management competition, sponsored by the National Restaurant Association April 28-30 in Charleston, S.C. Hoisting the trophy are students (from left) Mikayla Campbell, Caleb Basore, Zach York, Jonas Ray and Tyler Smith. Area 30 students Basore, Smith, Ray and Campbell all attend Greencastle, while York is from South Putnam.

How do you celebrate a culinary arts state champion? With another dining experience, of course, you foodies.

A fete to commemorate a feat perhaps.

On Monday, April 10 Almost Home restaurant in Greencastle will partner with the Area 30 Career Center culinary arts class to host a fundraising dinner for instructor Mary Anne Birt’s award-winning students -- Caleb Basore, Mikayla Campbell, Jonas Ray and Tyler Smith, all of Greencastle High School, and Zach York of South Putnam.

From 5-9 p.m. next Monday, the Area 30 students will be paired with Almost Home servers, shadowing them and interacting with patrons while talking about their upcoming trip to Charleston, S.C., for national competition April 28-30 at the Charleston Area Convention Center.

All tips collected that evening will be donated to the Area 30 group, which needs to raise $5,000 ($1,000 per student) for the trip.

Area 30 supporters as well as diners interested in Almost Home’s new menu can make reservations by calling the restaurant at 653-5788 or going online to www.almosthomerestaurant.com.

It is not the only fundraiser in town to aid the students’ trip.

“Also the (All-American) Karate Academy is having an event on April 9 from 2-6 p.m. as a fundraiser for my students, too,” Birt said. “Bless their hearts. What a great community.”

The Area 30 crew bested 27 teams from 15 other schools in capturing the state championship in the Indiana ProStart/FCCLA Culinary competition, sponsored by the National Restaurant Association, March 10 at Muncie.

The students created an entree of blackened tilapia with fruit salsa and lime sour cream along with a farro vegetable medley with caramelized onions and sauteed asparagus. The appetizer was pan-seared maple leaf duck with shrimp sauteed in duck fat in a spring roll with Napa cabbage and pickled cucumbers served with a peanut sauce.

For dessert, students deconstructed S’mores with a hazelnut cayenne and cinnamon-toasted graham cracker crust with Nutella/coffee, goat cheese mousse, toasted marshmallow cream, candied orange rind and marmalade butter sauce.

For the national competition, culinary teams must develop a unique menu for a three-course meal, complete with recipes and food costs, and prepare that meal in 60 minutes using two butane burners — with no electricity or running water .

They are evaluated on their menu, degree of difficulty, food safety and sanitation, knife skills, cooking procedures, food costing, teamwork, taste and presentation of their meal.

The 16th Annual National ProStart Invitational is the country’s premier competition for high school students studying culinary arts and restaurant management. Nearly 400 ProStart students put their knowledge and skills to the test in front of industry leaders, NRAEF trustees, state restaurant association executives, top post-secondary schools, families and friends hoping to win trophies, medals and scholarships from the nation’s top culinary arts and hospitality management programs.