Local chefs treat the hungry and needy to special meals

Published 8:31 am Thursday, August 4, 2011

“It’s filling, nutritional, tasty and fills a hole,” one judge noted. “It’s not the best, but it’s not the worst,” said another. “I’ve just tasted it, I don’t know what to think,” a third added.

No, this isn’t the expert panel of Bravo’s Top Chef. These are the amateur musings coming from the judges’ table at July 28’s Golden Skillet Competition hosted by the Salvation Army Eastside Corps, as they taste the evening’s Mexican casserole.

The competition took the place of the organization’s normal meal service program which feeds 60-75 hungry and needy members of the Bellevue community Monday through Friday. The weeklong event enlisted local chefs to prepare and donate a three-course meal for a good cause and the chance to win the Golden Skillet.

“It always amazes people when I tell people that we’re feeding the homeless in Bellevue, essentially (four miles) from Bellevue square.” said Mike Garner, a member of the organization’s advisory board and mastermind of the competition concept. “There really are homeless people here. For some of them it’s their only meal of the day.”

The competition was only one of the alterations made for the week. Past civic leaders and Bellevue dignitaries joined the program’s patrons at a judges’ table. Guests, who usually serve themselves in a buffet line, were served by the program’s volunteers. And a ballot sat on each placemat to decide the week’s winner.

Guests complimented the volunteers on their service and a few told Garner and staff that they wished they were served in that fashion each week.

“Serving them just allows us to make sure that they feel that their is hope and that they’re loved,” said Darryck Dwelle, lieutenant and pastor for Bellevue’s Salvation Army.

Garner, a geriatric case manager and self-described chutzpah, used his connections in the assisted living community to entice professional chefs like Don Johansson of the Gardens at Town Square to supply food for the July 26 meal. Garner also supplied food himself for two other days.

Garner admitted that Johansson’s meal was the frontrunner, due to the menu, which featured BBQ baby back ribs, garlic mashed potatoes and apple cobbler for desert, and the flowers and candles that set a nice mood for the evening.

Each chef donated $100 to the Salvation Army, with proceeds going utensils and general operation costs.