WS Chronicle

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Chef Michael Lalor of Hospice & Palliative CareCenter wowed the judges with his homemade pastrami plate to take home the top food prize during the second annual Men Who Cook fundraiser to benefit The Family House in Winston-Salem.

The event showcased the talents of 22 local celebrity chefs who cooked for 325 guests at Bridger Field House. More than$130,000 was raised to help the Family House provide a compassionate, comfortable alternative to a hospital waiting room or an expensive hotel for more than 4,500 patients and their caregivers who stay at the Family House each year.

Triad Community Kitchen students served as judges for the evening of March 18, and awarded second place in the food category to Gary Hauser, Jeff Lippow and John Hardy of HMC Partners with their Lamb with tzatziki sauce and avgole-mono (Greek lemon and rice soup).

David Barksdale of Carolina Premier and John Millican of Salem Group rounded out the top three with their spicy pork ribs. Barksdale laughed as he offered advice for next year’s amateur chefs: “Bring your ‘A’ game and cook something that doesn’t take 12 hours to prepare!”

The chefs also battled for the People’s Choice Award by getting tips at the event and online for several weeks leading up to the fundraiser.  Jose Rodriguez and Michael Chang took home that honor by securing more than $6,000 in tips. “It really is rewarding, seeing what you can do and how many people you help with it,” said Rodriguez. Chang, a Family House board member and surgeon at Wake Forest Baptist Health, sees firsthand the importance of the event. “I treat patients from the referral area, such as eastern Tennessee, southern West Virginia. It’s great for our patients to have an affordable place to stay.”

“We had a lot of fun. This is for the community, such a cause. You can’t turn down something like this,” said Kienus Boulware, WSSU head football coach, who made his famous cheese dip along with his sous chef, wife Kellie.

“Even if you’re not a chef, I think it’s good to get involved, to participate and recruit a better chef than you are to make you look better,” Angelo Adamo quipped about his sous chef, Matthew Hart. The pair served up pork carnitas tacos and all the trimmings.

Major sponsors of the event were Winston-Salem Journal, Novant Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health, First Tennessee, Visit Winston-Salem, Publix, Forsyth Magazines and Oh, Goodness Fine Portraits.