It takes special culinary skills to be presented with several secret ingredients in the morning and then whip up delicious and Instagram-worthy dishes for 160 guests by the evening. Chef Andrew Smith of bu*ku in Wake Forest outlasted seven other chefs to claim the top prize in the third annual Cooking for a Classic tournament-style chefs competition: a restored 1981 JEEP Scrambler.
This year’s series of seven Cooking for a Classic head-to-head showdowns raised $150,000 for The Lucy Daniels Center, which helps children lead emotionally healthy lives. Over three years, the competition has raised more than $400,000.
At the grand finale on March 11, Chef Smith and Chef Teddy Diggs of Coronato Pizza worked with their teams to create an appetizer, entrée and dessert incorporating at least one of the day’s secret ingredients: collard greens, mahi mahi, breakfast cereal and Ms. Ruth’s Jams. Other secret ingredients this year included octopus, Flaming Hot Cheetos, Yoohoo chocolate drink, bison short ribs, kumquats, popcorn, retro candies, sunchokes, Jarritos sodas, beets, spam and boar shank.
All competitions were held at 1705 East, Rocky Top Catering’s premier event venue in Raleigh. Guest judges and attendees scored each dish blindly without knowing which chef created which one.
Thanks to generous donations from sponsors, 100 percent of net proceeds will go to the Lucy Daniels Center. Event and media sponsors for Cooking for a Classic 2019 include US Foods, Rocky Top Catering, MoJo Performance Partners, WRAL.com Out & About, 96.1BBB and the Triangle Business Journal. In-kind sponsors include ALSCO, TOPO, Social House, Trophy Brewing Co., SpinNC, f8 Photo Studios, and Jen Rhoton Designs.
“We certainly want to congratulate Chef Smith and his amazing team,” said Don Rosenblitt, executive director of The Lucy Daniels Center. “Cooking for a Classic would not be the success it is without the generosity of the chefs, our sponsors, our board of directors, and the wonderful attendees that have made this a major annual event in the Triangle area.”
To learn more about The Lucy Daniels Center, visit www.lucydanielscenter.org.
About The Lucy Daniels Center
The LDC was founded in 1989 by Dr. Lucy Daniels, a noted author, educator and psychoanalyst. The Center houses the Lucy Daniels School, serving children preschool through grade 5 in a therapeutic educational setting, and a highly sophisticated assessment and treatment facility. The LDC serves more than 700+ children and families each year through the following programs: the Lucy Daniels School (K-Grade 5); SecurePath, family therapy in the community in both English and Spanish; Family Guidance Service (FGS), onsite family therapy; and LDC 4 Early Success, offering workshops and programs for teachers and parents. Almost 70 percent of these families pay less than the actual cost, and one in six receives services for free. The Lucy Daniels Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, meaning that donations to LDC are tax-deductible. More information at https://www.lucydanielscenter.org.
