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Tolles takes culinary bronze on state stage
(by Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor - March 03, 2010)
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 Messenger photos by Kristy Zurbrick
Tolles’ hot foods team placed third at the ProStart Invitational: (from left) mentor Greg Needles, Jon Moreno, captain Chris Dodd, D.J. Rispinto, Aleyda Mendoza and Tolles lead culinary instructor Kathy Zay.
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 Tolles’ management team placed third at the ProStart Invitational: (from left) co-captains Kim Smith and Victoria Baisden, Katie Vaughn and Isaac Rowland.
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On Feb. 22, students from Tolles Career and Technical Center in Plain City competed in the ProStart Invitational, the premier competition for high school culinary arts students in Ohio. The event was held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center during the North America Pizza & Ice Cream trade show.
Tolles’ culinary team cooked a three-course meal in an hour, competing against 20 other teams from around Ohio. Tolles’ management team pitched a new restaurant concept, competing against 11 other teams. Both teams placed third.
Each member of the four-person hot foods team won an $8,500 scholarship package that includes $5,000 from Le Cordon Bleu, $2,000 from Sullivan College, $1,000 from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), and $500 from Johnson & Wales University. Each member of the four-person management team won a $7,500 scholarship package, identical to the hot foods prize with the exception of the CIA scholarship. If the students pursue studies at other colleges, they can ask those colleges to match these scholarships.
“I’m just real proud of our kids. Talk about dedication and love for what they’re doing,” said Tolles Superintendent Carl Berg. “When you get a real-life, practical application of what you’ve learned, under pressure, that’s what it’s really all about.”
Both teams started preparing for the competition in November under the watchful eye of Tolles’ lead culinary arts instructor, Kathy Zay.
“I’m happy with how our teams did because I know how tough this competition is. It is very rigorous. It takes a lot of ingenuity, a lot of organizational skills and a lot of teamwork,” said Zay, a finalist for the Teacher of Excellence award, presented by the Ohio Restaurant Association’s Education Foundation, which administers the Ohio ProStart program.
Other Tolles staffers who helped the teams to prepare were Zay’s assistant, Diana Mitchell, food science and ServSafe instructor Joe Wiese, and cafeteria, cater-ing and vending manager Eric Bauerle.
Greg Needles, a cook at Barcelona, a restaurant in Columbus, mentored the hot foods team. Mike Haunert, vice president of Sysco of Central Ohio, mentored the management team.
Hot Foods Team
“We came up with the menu from scratch. Greg (Needles) helped us with flavor flow. We had to think about plate design, timing, taste, and costing out the menu,” said Chris Dodd, who captained the hot foods team.
The contest required teams to make three courses in 60 minutes using just two burners. Entrées had to feature chicken. Everything else was fair game. Each team made two plates of each course, one for the judges and one for display to the public.
Tolles’ appetizer was a seared scallop on a bed of pickled red onions and fresh micro greens, resting on a sweet potato latke and turmeric oil. The team priced it at $8.50.
Their entrée was a chicken roulade with a light chicken herb au jus, julienne of carrot with a summer squash medley and savory goat cheese polenta. The price: $12.50.
For dessert, the team made chocolate raspberry cake with ganache topping garnished with Chantilly cream, honey glazed fresh raspberries and a raspberry orange sauce. The price: $5.25.
Tolles finished three minutes past the 60-minute time limit. Dodd, a senior at Hilliard Davidson High School, was happy with his team’s effort and with his experience at Tolles overall.
“The best thing about Tolles is that it’s helped me grow as a person, be creative and do my own thing. A big part of being a chef is having your own flair,” Dodd said.
Dodd will attend the Culinary Institute of America this fall to start a four-year study program, after which he plans to get a teaching license.
His culinary contest teammates were: Aleyda Mendoza of Dublin Coffman, who plans to attend culinary college in the U.S. or her home country of Mexico; Jon Moreno of Dublin Scioto, who wants to pursue more schooling and eventually own a restaurant; and D.J. Rispinto of Hilliard Darby, who wants to attend college to become a chef.
Management Team
Victoria Baisden, a senior at Jonathan Alder High School, and Kim Smith, a senior at Fairbanks, captained Tolles’ management team. Their teammates were senior Isaac Rowland and junior Katie Vaughn, both from Dublin Jerome.
Baisden’s experience working at Biddie’s Coach House in Dublin inspired the concept for the team’s hypothetical restaurant, a tea house dubbed “The Iris” with main room seating for 60 and party room seating for another 60.
“The tea house idea was out of the box. We didn’t see anything like that from the other teams,” Baisden said.
The team’s pitch to judges laid out their restaurant’s target audience, costs, architectural blueprint, promotional campaign, and a nine-item menu.
For the presentation, the team made three of their menu items: bacon-wrapped salmon, cheesy truffle pasta bites, and black bottom pot de creme brulée (custard).
The team spent 10 minutes presenting their concept and 45 minutes answering judges’ questions.
“We were ready for the Q&A, but they asked a lot of hard questions about specific scenarios, especially ones that dealt with customer service,” Smith said.
One question: “What do you do if your restaurant is full and you have customers who are finished eating but still lingering at their table?”
The team’s answer: It’s first come, first served, so let customers continue to enjoy their stay in your restaurant. Or, institute a reservation system.
Baisden will enroll at Midwest Culinary in Cincinnati this fall. Smith plans to go to Sullivan College in Louisville, Ky. Roland is considering Hocking Technical College in Nelsonville, Ohio, and Vaughn is unde-cided as she has another year at Tolles.
This was Tolles’ fourth year fielding teams at the ProStart Invitational. Two years ago, the hot foods team placed third. To learn more about ProStart, go to www.ohiorestaurant.org.
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