FOODSERVICE MONTHLY'S Sauce on the Side

Carver Center Takes Fourth in NPSI Management Competition

Many of my Blog readers (OK, most) don't realize what a big deal it is for the kids of Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Baltimore to have taken fourth place at the National ProStart Invitational held this weekend in San Diego ... I'm telling you that it is a big deal on many levels including the fact that the Carver School is the first Maryland school to finish in the top five in the Management Competition.

LaDeana and Marshall sent out text messages and e-mails as soon as the announcements were made at the closing awards dinner Sunday night. I wish I could have been there to hear the cheers of their student peers as they accepted their scholarship awards.

Education will be the key to the future of foodservice and these kids are "top class" in every way.

OK, now for the more formal announcement as it will appear in the May issue of Foodservice Monthly that goes to press tomorrow:

Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Baltimore took fourth place in the Management Competition of the National ProStart Invitational held April 24 – 26 in San Diego. The team, coached by Carver Center instructor Bette Mullins (Maryland’s ProStart Teacher of the Year), is comprised of team members Brina Furman, Rachel Sherman, Brenna Hoffman, Tara Lewis and Tom Burch.

Marshall Weston, executive vice president of the Restaurant Association of Maryland Education Foundation, and LaDeana Litchfield, director of workforce development, traveled with the team to the nationals. Carver Center won the state management competition at the 5th annual Maryland ProStart Invitational in March. That win gave them the opportunity to compete for college scholarships in San Diego.

Students who complete the ProStart high school culinary and hospitality management curriculum are qualified to enter the workforce in positions above entry level and are on a fast track to management careers. “The ProStart program is phenomenal for our industry, said Paul Hartgen, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Maryland. “It instills hard work and excellent training into each and every student. It truly prepares them for the tough but rewarding hospitality industry.”

Participating teams in the Management Competition must demonstrate their knowledge of the restaurant and foodservice industry by competing in two different events: the Case Study event, where students test their communication skills and their ability to apply their knowledge of the restaurant and foodservice industry to practical situations, and the Quiz Bowl, which is a question and answer “game show” style event.

The Case Study event uses simple management practices learned throughout the ProStart textbooks. The ProStart Year 1 and Year 2 (first and second editions) curriculum were used to develop the Quiz Bowl questions.

Ya Me Despido

Today at the residence of the former Ambassador of Chile to the United States, Mariano Fernandez, invited guests had an opportunity to say goodbye to the now Minister of Foreign Relations for Chile and his lovely wife Keka.

I know I was one person totally caught by surprise when on March 12, Chile President Michelle Bachelet reshuffled her cabinet and within hours Fernandez was on a plane to Santiago. Later this week the recently replaced Defense Minister Jose Goni will join us in Washington as the new Ambassador to the US. In the four weeks since he assumed his new position, Fernandez has been involved in attempting to resolve a maritime dispute with Peru in the Hague based International Court of Justice and he has just returned from a diplomatic visit to Russia with Bachelet where he met with the Russian Federation Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. Since the first of the year and the changes, the president's approval rating has jumped 9 percentage points to reach 62.1 percent.

If all that sounds rather political, it is. But that's not why I was at the residence today where Jean Cohen, Where Magazine editor, graciously took this picture for me. I was there to join many others in saying goodbye to our friends Mariano and Keka. I met them first at a social reception hosted by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington at Mie N Yu soon after after he was received in the US by President George W. Bush on July 6, 2006. And then again at the opening reception of Urbana in the Hotel Palomar shortly thereafter.  By our second meeting, we were talking wine and I asked the Ambassador if he would be interested in judging wine at the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition July 29 and 30 in Haymarket, Va. He is an author of articles about wine, an honorary president of the Chilean Association of Sommeliers and former Ambassador to the UK, Spain, Italy and the EU. He agreed and on this weekend enjoyed an intense exposure to 100 plus wines of the East Coast. I was covering a Les Dames des Escoffier event at Dupont Circle's FreshFarm Market on July 23 and ran into the Mariano and Keka where I introduced them to Ann Yonkers one of the market's co-founders. In less than a month they had become enthusiastic, active members of our community ... embracing our culture and our friendships.

The residence of the Ambassador became a home to several food and wine market events as well as some smaller, special wine dinners. I remember one when the opening of the General Assembly at the United Nations interfered, but the dinner went on without the Ambassador who had to be in New York with President Bachelet ... but not before he finalized the wine and food pairings with the chef and the Chilean winemaker. 

Alas, Dave McIntyre (Washington Post wine writer) and I commiserated when we heard the news of the Ambassador's appointment ... we were losing a wine drinking buddy. I know this is not the proper protocol but Mariano and Keka are special and transcend the formal rules. They are skilled travelers of the world ... living life fully while taking in all that surrounds them and leaving each place better than when they arrived.

And best of all they are our friends.

Taberna del Alabardero Celebrates 20-Years With Gifts For Us!

Throughout the month of April Taberna del Alabardero is offering more than 100 wines at retail cost, regularly priced at $55 or above. There are several reasons to take advantage of this tremendous wine deal … first of all you get to meet a gem of a sommelier Gustavo Iniesta (foto) who has created his own Taberna wine service “style” over the past two years. Secondly, you will have a chance to taste the food of Dani Arana … who has also matured over the last year as the top toque in the kitchen (he still looks like a kid though). And thirdly, say hello to the new general manager Javier Velazquez. For some who might have missed the changing of the guard, our friend Paco Pena is now the general manager of the newest Taberna … in Seattle. We wish Paco well, but I’ve talked to Javier a couple of times now and he is just as gracious and he can share some new stories with you. Wow, that’s a lot of new for a place celebrating twenty years in DC.

On to the super wine deal: when I visited Gustavo, I asked him to pick out two favorites from the wine list that show off this great opportunity to upgrade your wine selection with dinner at Taberna. It didn’t take him long to find two to make my palate happy. 

2004 Maria Casanova Rose (on the wine list at $90, but during April it is priced at $50): The sparkling rose is produced from a Pinot Noir blended with small amounts of a traditional Cava varietal. The wine is assembled after an thorough search and tasting of various lots of wines from Penedes.

Iniesta Tasting Notes:
The 2004 Brut Nature Pinot Noir is a dark pink, salmon-colored wine with a lovely perfume of strawberries and rose petals. Elegant on the palate with persistent small bubbles, the flavors are precise and the finish pure.

I think this is a sure-fire winner for a toast before dinner with the Iberico Jamon appetizer.
 
1998 Torres Reserva Real (on the wine list at $350, but during April it is $195)
In 1995 during a tour of the winery, His Majesty King Juan Carlos showed particular appreciation for a red wine from the Santa Margarita de Agulladolç vineyard, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Since 1997 they have vinified this Reserva Real (Royal Reserve) separately in memory of that remarkable day in the Penedès.

Iniesta Tasting Notes:
Intense deep mahogany red color, with brown tinges in keeping with a properly aged wine. On the nose the wine is intense, complex and very fruity (blackberry and raspberry jams). There are clear signs of oak in a series of toasted aromas (toasted almonds and toasted bread) and a slight hint of smoke over a spicy background of cloves and bay leaf. On the palate it is powerful and quick to emerge, with body and huge concentration enhanced by its sweet but well structured tannins. It is reminiscent of ripe fruit jams and prunes with well integrated oak and the considerable presence of touches of cocoa and leather finished off by a slight flinty nuance all in all giving the wine great length.

Whoa, that’s a lot going on! Check with Gustavo for recommends for this one … maybe Dani will have something special that night to send out with this one.

When someone gives me a gift certificate, I like to treat myself to an upgrade in wine. Well, Taberna is doing that for you without any needless paperwork … these two particular wines in April will save you $195, that’s a great birthday present from Taberna to me.

Taberna del Alabardero
1776 I St NW
Washington
202-429-2200