Taste of Kennesaw – the results are in. Great, great event. Over 42 restaurants and food trucks participated with one restaurant coming from as far away as Woodstock. There couldn’t have been a better variety of food to choose from. With a steady stream of visitors all day long — Taste of Kennesaw ended with a great concert from Sons of Sailors.
This is a total community event with the support of the City of Kennesaw, the Kennesaw Business Association, our high schools and our business sponsors. Pictured at left is Donovan’s – they came from Woodstock.
Three of our local high schools were on hand, out selling each other with water and soft drinks. Proceeds from the drink sales go to each individual high school’s Shop With A …, held in December to benefit less fortunate youngsters and their families. Proceeds from The Taste of Kennesaw benefit five local charities: Shop with a Mustang (Kennesaw Mountain High School); Shop with a Warrior (North Cobb High School); Shop with a Longhorn (Kell High School) MUST Ministries and the Jerry Worthan Community Christmas Fund. Pictured here is Steve Revard, NCHS teacher and students.
Taste of Kennesaw – Carrabba’s Culinary Cook-Off.
Nhataniel Placide (Nat) : Allatoona High School was the winner of the Culinary Cook-off. Four high school seniors competed on stage at the Taste of Kennesaw in an “Iron Chef” style competition to win a $3000 Scholarship to a college of their choosing to study culinary arts or restaurant management. The competition was hosted and organized by managing partner of Carrabba’s on Barrett Parkway, Mike Schroeder, the Kennesaw Business Association and past president of the association, Laura Ann Hart and her committee.
Four Students from Cobb County Area Five High Schools were chosen out of 22 applicants to compete in a 1 hour cook-off to win the scholarship money. Students created an original recipe to cook for the judges. The students were Rebecca McCay : Allatoona High School; Nhataniel Placide: Allatoona High School; Jordan Fressehai: North Cobb High School; Heather Jones: Kennesaw Mountain High School. A big thank you to these students culinary arts teachers: Susan Rutledge, Lacey Faulkner, and Chef Xan Payton for their involvement in preparing these students for the competition. The emcee of this event was Donna Rodriguez, The Dishing with Donna Show (Host and Personality)
Restaurant Winners
The food winners of the restaurant competition were: Appetizer: Five40 Kitchen and Social (brussel sprouts and apples). Entree: Dogwood Terrace Restaurant: Georgia Pecan Encrusted Chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, & vegetable of the day, Dessert: Twisted Kitchen — yes they serve pasta, however their cookie (filled with macadamia nuts, chocolate chips and coconut) is the best ever. Best Decorated Booth: Barbecue Street (Pictured at left is Malcolm Wood and his staff). Pictured at right is Councilman Jeff Duckett (tasting), Mayor Mark Mathews (judging), and Donna Rodriguez, from The Dishing with Donna Show, (having a good time)
The title Sponsor was Superior Plumbing and the event was produced by JRM Management Services. Admission to the Taste was FREE with food samples costing $1.00 to $4.00 each. More photos are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/brightnews/sets