C-CAP alum Johnny Cardenas prepares pastrami venison canapés.
photo: Liz Borod Wright
It's always nice to eat well for a great cause. And if that cause is to further promote great eating, well, better still! Last night, Taj hosted a walk-around tasting event to benefit C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Programs), a non-profit that works with public schools across the country to prepare students for careers in the restaurant and hospitality industries (full disclosure: Zagat is a sponsor). C-CAP alums who have gone on to work for Asiate, Tabla and Eleven Madison Park – to name a few of the well-regarded eateries represented – were there cooking up tastes of fall at their stations.
"I'm now the youngest executive sous-chef that C-CAP has ever had," said 22-year-old Kelvin Fernandez, who works at Café des Artistes. He says that C-CAP urged him to enter its cooking competition when he was a student at Long Island City High School. Preparing the best chicken fricassee won him a full scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America. Last night, however, his table was busy cooking diver scallops with black truffle tartare, toasted Hazelnuts and fresh thyme.
In its 17 years, the organization has also given away $22.5 million in scholarships. Johnny Cardenas, head of banquets at the Four Seasons Hotel, won a full ride to the French Culinary Institute. Although he was working hard preparing small plates of pastrami venison with cranberry choucroute and roasted celery root, he still had time to praise the program – and his mom.
"I always liked cooking," he said. "My mother was an inspiration to me. She was always cooking and I was always cooking with her."
– Liz Borod Wright