A Texas-sized fund-raiser

Deirdre Newman

As the smoky smell of barbecued pork ribs permeated the kitchen,

Francesca Leal and Thomas Folsom presided over the Texas-sized rack and

sprayed it with a glaze of apple juice and honey to seal in the hickory

flavor.

Francesca and Thomas, dressed in white coats and red aprons, got to be

chefs for a day on Monday at Clayton Shurley’s Real BBQ restaurant in

Newport Beach.

Their stint in the kitchen is part of a weeklong fund-raising effort

by the restaurant to help Newport Harbor High’s culinary arts program.

The restaurant, which opened about three months ago, will donate 10%

of all sales made after 3 p.m. through Saturday to the program, with the

goal of raising more than $1,000.

The fund-raiser enables the students to attain an authentic culinary

experience while the company contributes to the community.

“It’s wonderful,” said Francesca, a sophomore. “It gives us a great

opportunity to get out into the real world before we’re allowed to, and

it helps me understand how hard people in restaurants work to get food to

its best quality.”

While the brick-and-mortar restaurant is new, the companyhas been

providing catering services for the past 10 years and has donated

culinary equipment to Newport Harbor High in the past, said Tonya

Roemmer, the restaurant’s sales director. Shurley’s wife, Sandy, is also

a graduate of the school.

Earlier this month, the students toured the restaurant, which sells

barbecue beef brisket, smoked pork ribs and a variety of other barbecue

fare.

Every afternoon this week, three or four students will help out in the

kitchen and pass out fliers to neighboring businesses to spread the word

about the fund-raising.

Sophomore Evangeline Airth said most of the businesses in the vicinity

have been receptive, including an employee of La Salsa, who said he would

welcome a change in his routine.Janet Dukes, the school’s food and

culinary arts teacher, said she is grateful for the Shurleys’ generosity.

“I think it’s wonderful that a business would help support our

students,” Dukes said. “For [Clayton] not just to train the students, but

to benefit our program and help them raise money -- not a lot of

businesses will do that.”

The funds raised will be used to sponsor the students’ trip to

culinary academies in San Francisco and Napa in April.

“We started planning a grand opening party, then thought it would be

nice to spend the money helping kids to go to the culinary academies,”

Roemmer said.

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .