MEDINA, Ohio – Mornings are always busy on days when the Center Cafe at the Medina County Career Center is open for lunch. But today, that busyness was multiplied.
Chef Tony Stanislo and his 47 junior and senior students were not only getting ready for the lunch rush, they were also wrists-deep in preparations for tomorrow night’s From the Heart scholarship dinner.
“Dinner” is a bit of an understatement: The evening will feature three separate seatings of 70 guests each for the four-course gourmet meal. The cafe will be transformed into an intimate, romantic restaurant, with balloons, fairy lights and heart-shaped cloth napkins.
Guests will be treated to hand-cut rosemary filet mignon with bacon tomato chutney and chicken wellington with a sage demi glace, served with garlic potatoes au gratin and baby carrots.
Three elegant appetizers, a specialty salad and a choice of dessert will round out the menu.
This is the 16th year for the From the Heart dinner, which raises money for the Chef and Restaurant Management program’s scholarship fund and the Career Center’s students in need fund.
In addition to the meal, there will be an art auction, a raffle and an online auction to raise money for the funds. The online auction can be found at https://www.32auctions.com/FromTheHeart2017.
The first seating will be at 4:30 p.m., with two more following at 6 and 8 p.m. Event coordinator Christine Kurth said today that the dinner is sold out, except for a couple of spots at the 8 p.m. seating.
“Between each seating, we completely strip the tables and tablecloths and re-set the place settings. It’s quite an endeavor,” Kurth said.
Students will prepare the meals, as well as serve as wait staff and hosts.
“My juniors don’t know what’s coming. It’s like a freight train coming down the line,” Stanislo said.
Tomorrow, students will arrive at 10 a.m. and work straight through until 10:30 or 11 p.m., he said. About a dozen alumni will return to help with the workload.
It’s all about preparation. The most important thing in the kitchen right now is the chef’s four-page, color-coded to-do list, complete with down-to-the-minute timetable.
“If it gets lost, there’s a note on each page that if found, bring it right back to me,” Stanislo said.
The students have been prepping for the dinner for about two weeks now, starting with breaking down the chickens and steaks for the entrees.
Senior Dani Matelske said Stanislo uses the dinner as a way to demonstrate certain techniques.
“While we are prepping, it’s also part of what we are learning,” Dani said.
“We always use every bit of food from the demos, whether for something like this dinner or for the lunches. Nothing goes to waste,” she said.
This morning, students were busy cleaning produce, assembling bleu cheese and bacon pierogies for an appetizer, and piping eclair dough for dessert.
“That’s 30 pounds of mushrooms they have to clean,” Stanislo said, pointing out two students diligently scrubbing dirt off the fresh vegetables.
Another group was busy rolling out dough, then filling and crimping the pierogies.
“They’ll make about 300 pierogies,” he said.
Junior Emily Johnson was cranking out about 250 perfectly formed chocolate eclairs.
Stanislo said the From the Heart dinner gives students a feel for what a real-life Saturday night at a small restaurant would be like.
“It’s about teamwork and learning to do your part to get the job done. At this age, they work with what’s in front of them,” he said.
“They’re also going to learn what it’s like to work 12 hours in one day,” he said.
Dani, who helped with the dinner last year, said: “It was a lot of fun, but a lot of stress. There are more people in the kitchen than normal, with the graduates coming back.”
“But Chef Tony loves this dinner. We all just celebrate it with him,” she said.
“It’s just amazing to see how many people come in and support this dinner and support these scholarships,” she said.
For Dani, learning to handle stressful situations and take control will benefit her as she considers her future.
“I think right now I might be either a chef or a teacher. Working in the kitchen helps me be more open-minded and helps with my time management,” she said.
“If nothing else, I’ll know how to cook better than the average person,” she said.
Next year’s From the Heart dinner will be presented on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018.
In the meantime, the community is encouraged to come out and enjoy lunch in the cafe from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays when school is in session.
Lunch reservations can be made by calling Stanislo at 330-721-0229.
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