Culinary Students Serve Three-Course Meal at Showcase Night
On April 10th, 2019, Indian Valley Vocational Center hosted its annual Showcase Night. Every class put in their best efforts to appeal to their guests, which included the Culinary Arts class. Throughout the week the culinary class prepared the layout and menu that was put on full display on Showcase Night. The theme for the night was Mexican cuisine, titled Comida de México. The students prepared a full three-course meal, with options for vegans and vegetarians.
When the guest walked in, they saw nine tables, each set for four people, with a platter of chips and a roasted tomato salsa. For the appetizer, the students served an Esquites Salad, which entailed Mexican street-style corn off the cob, with a leafy green salad that had a light cilantro and lime dressing. The vegan/vegetarian option was a leafy green salad with a lime vinaigrette dressing and a spicy pineapple salsa.
The entree was a trio of tacos, which was composed of skirt steak with a roasted tomato salsa, pulled chicken accompanied with some Salsa Verde, and pork carnitas with a spicy pineapple salsa, and there was one of each taco served. The vegan/vegetarian option was roasted mushroom tacos with the different salsas on each.
Finally, the dessert course was a sampler plate made up of some Tres Leches cupcakes, Mexican Wedding cookies, Churros accompanied with a spiced chocolate sauce, and optional coffee service to go with them. The guests were also served horchata and water upon request.
All of the courses were received extremely well. The culinary class received a great amount of compliments on the preparation of skirt steak, pulled chicken, and pineapple. They also got many compliments on the presentation of the dessert platter.
Not everyone was serving the guests, though. Some of the students were working in the back of the house, preparing the trays of food to be served. They were also constantly washing dishes and generally cleaning up as servers rushed in and out of the kitchen.
Everyone in the culinary class worked together like a well maintained machine. Even though they have their classes at different times during the day (half in the AM and the other half in the PM class), they were able to partner up and make sure the night went along smoothly. Overall, it was a great night for the guests, along with a great experience for the students of the Culinary Arts class.