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Austin ISD students land recipe on Kerbey Lane menu
Kerbey Lane Cafe is getting a new item on the menu, curated by Austin ISD students. The restaurant and the school district partnered together in its first every culinary competition to give students a chance to create an original dish that will be served at every restaurant in the Austin area. FOX 7 Austin's Jessica Rivera has more in this Report Card.
AUSTIN, Texas - Austin ISD students got the opportunity to compete in a culinary competition for a chance to land their dish on Kerbey Lane's menu.
The winning dish will be featured on the Austin chain's summer seasonal All Day Cafe menu.
What they're saying:
Four teams from Austin High School and Bowie High School went against one another for Kerbey Lane and Austin ISD's first-ever culinary collaboration.
"I feel like we're on an episode of Top Chef. There's going to be a three-judge panel. I'm included as a judge, which I'm excited and a little bit nervous about," said Kerbey Lane CEO Mason Ayer.
Like Top Chef, they have less than an hour to work inside the kitchen to wow the judges.
"Going into the kitchen and talking to these kids. I'm looking at their knife skills. I'm look at what they're preparing and it's really, really impressive," says Ayer.
The young chefs have to work as a team to create an original dish with a protein and sides that complement the dish. The judges will be judging the flavor, the creativity, and the presentation.
"And what will end up happening is we'll put this on a seasonal menu, and the hope is that it's so successful in the seasonal menu that it eventually transitions over to the full menu," says Ayer.
"Today we're making a Greek lemon chicken, served on a bed of garlic and herb couscous, and then we're going to have a side of cantaloupe, cucumber-like salad with a lemon vinaigrette," said Bowie student Sophia Hooker.
"Me and my team are doing a kind of hot and sweet salmon scampi. It's like a lemon pasta dish with lost summer veggies. And like garnish with bacon with like salmon on top. It's going be awesome," said Austin High student Zachary Borja.
In front of a panel of judges and a live audience, the students presented their dishes. and a moderator calculated all the votes and made the final decision.
The winning team was Austin High's Zach Borja, Josiah Peterson-Bull and Judah Scaletta with their salmon scampi, featuring seared salmon on a bed of pasta with roasted summer vegetables and finished with Parmesan cheese.
"I love Kerbey Lane and like so it would be so cool to get the opportunity and even just being here is an awesome opportunity enough. Like it's just so exciting all of it. Yeah, it'd be awesome," said Borja.
In addition to the menu addition, the winning students received a one-of-a-kind trophy to bring home to campus.
The Source: Information in this report comes from reporting by FOX 7 Austin's education reporter Jessica Rivera