Greg Dausch has no reservations about saying it.
The next rock star chef to command the culinary world, he said, just might have a Monongalia County connection.
In particular, the Monongalia County Technical Education Center, he added.
“I won’t be surprised one bit,” said Dausch, who directs the center on Mississippi Street. “That’s how good our kids are.”
So good, in fact, that two teams of culinary students from MTEC swept all five categories in last weekend’s state competition of the national ProStart Invitational, hosted in part by the West Virginia Hospitality Education and Training Center.
The event was held at the Morgantown Marriot at Waterfront Place.
MTEC is the first school in the state to serve up a victory all the way around, the director said.
ProStart is the national culinary school that focuses on culinary arts and restaurant management.
Chef Brian Covell, who advises MTEC’s culinary program, is a past ProStart chef of the year, and this isn’t the first time his students have taken the head table at the competition.
ProStart’s national competition is in May in Washington, D.C.
Representing the Mountain State and the center on Mississippi will be two teams from the culinary and restaurant management sides.
Charlotte Curtis, Jaymason Pennington, Chloe Salinas, Dakotah Lowther and Tim Heatherly are the state culinary champions.
Curtis and Pennington are also representing the restaurant management champions, along with Marisa Quigley.
Whether it’s putting a formal, full-course meal on a table or getting a food truck ready for the road, METC’s culinary program always makes the grade, Dausch said.
The food truck, part of the center’s “Country Roads Blazin’ BBQ” four-wheeled enterprise, is a cross-pollination affair bringing all disciples of METC together, as an example, the director said.
That includes the graphics students who tooled the logos of the corporate sponsors on the side of the truck and the HVAC students who encased the truck’s heating lines for its grill in PVC piping, to protect the piping from road hazards.
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