Food service sans sparks

Michael Miller

When Newport Harbor High School’s culinary arts team enters

competition this weekend, it will have to do without one of a modern

chef’s handiest tools: electricity.

At the third annual ProStart Culinary Cup, held today and Saturday

at Cal Poly Pomona, participants will be given no technology save for

a pair of butane burners. So the team of four students will have to

fix their three-course meal -- consisting of grilled asparagus salad,

almond-crusted sea bass and berry gateau -- with nothing but their

hands and their wits.

“I think it’s going to be an excellent learning experience,” said

senior Derek Willis, a second-year culinary student. “It’s more fun

without electricity; you get a better workout.”

Willis, seniors Tina Canchola and Tasja Twing and junior Colin

Meatzie were the four Newport Harbor students chosen for the

competition earlier this year by chefs from the Pacific Club in

Newport Beach. A dozen students from Janet Dukes’ culinary arts class

applied for the annual contest, in which judges grade student cooks

on speed, technique, cleanliness and appearance and taste of food.

Each of the last two years, Newport Harbor has placed highly in

the Culinary Cup. In 2003, the school finished second in culinary

competition and first in the “knowledge bowl” verbal quiz.

Last year, Newport Harbor took the top prize and advanced to the

national ProStart Student Invitational in Orlando, Fla., where it

finished fourth.

Over the last few weeks, the Newport Harbor team has been

practicing its menu -- and working unplugged for the first time this

year.

“This is the first time I’ve used nothing but two butane burners,”

Meatzie said. “You’ve just got to be focused more and concentrate on

what you can do without electrical appliances.”

The support staff for Newport Harbor’s team this year has been

extensive. Apart from Dukes, the class has worked with two Pacific

Club chefs, Emiliano Nino and Jeffrey Riggs, and with parent

volunteers Hennie Sondel and Minnie Ballard.

“These students have spent countless hours preparing not only for

the Culinary Cup but a successful career in the restaurant industry,”

Dukes said in a statement. “They are poised, already, to be the next

leaders in the food-service industry.”