Richards culinary arts team wins first Moraine Area Career System cook-off

Jasmine Ortega wanted to talk food.  After winning the first culinary competition sponsored by the Moraine Area Career System earlier in the day, the senior from Richards High School had stayed after school to attend a club meeting.

Ortega beamed with pride.  She had just learned that she had gained acceptance to the University of Chicago. But Ortega wanted to discuss her team’s winning performance at the MACS contest.

“I don’t know what I will study, maybe business administration. But we won today,” she said, smiling.

Ortega, junior Rachel Johnsen, and sophomore Doaa Shehadeh took top honors among the eight teams that competed. 

The team from Shepard High School won second place, while students from Argo High School took third.  Other teams included Eisenhower, Argo, Sandburg, Andrew, Stagg, and Reavis high schools.

Students prepared minestrone soup, Caesar salad, chicken parmesan, and Italian wedding cookies.  Teams added flourishes of their own to the traditional dishes.

Judges included Chuck Pine, executive chef and owner of Chuck’s Southern Comfort Café in Burbank; Elliot McCarty, head chef at D’Masti Catering in Blue Island; and, Mark Rimkus, executive chef at Flo & Santos Pizza and Pierogi in Chicago.