Several Boys & Girls Club Members to Embrace New Culinary Post at Salt Creek Grille
What do you get when you take 20 energetic youth from the local Boys & Girls Club and arm them with spatulas, mixing bowls and ingredients like chicken thighs, nutmeg and Panko breadcrumbs? A delectable and healthy recipe of learning, exploring and just plain old fun.The youngsters – who’ll sport chef hats – from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Capistrano Valley will enjoy “Cooking with Chef Scott Green” Friday at Salt Creek Grille in Dana Point. The event is part of the restaurant’s longtime relationship with the club to benefit local youth. Salt Creek Grille began its relationship with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Capistrano Valley in 2009 to help raise awareness and money for it through fundraisers, restaurant promotions and more. In May, owners Tim McCune and Pete Truxaw gave the club $3,000 in proceeds from a menu entree promotion. For each Stuffed Jidori Chicken ordered, the restaurant donated a $1 to the club.
Most recently, Salt Creek Grille has been dishing up “Pasta Fridays” for the kids in San Juan Capistrano. Every Friday, General Manager Marcos Costas brings tons of freshly prepared noodles and sauce – enough to feed up to 75 kids – to the club off Via Positiva. The free gesture, which comes with garlic bread, is meant to nourish the kids and provide them with delectable fare in a fun social setting.
This Friday, however, the kids will enjoy the fruits of their own labor by joining forces with Chef Green on a culinary adventure that will include preparing heart-healthy Apple Chicken Meatballs.
The young sous-chefs will spend three hours (from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) getting a hands-on experience – rolling, forming and baking the meatballs, which will be dished up with healthy primavera sauce and gluten-free macaroni. The adventure will be fun but also serious business, as the kids will learn about the different jobs, health, nutrition, hygiene, food safety and what goes on behind the scenes to make a restaurant run smoothly.
Offering the “Cooking with Chef Scott Green” to the Boys & Girls Club is something McCune and Truxaw are only too happy to do. In fact, giving back to the community has long been a hallmark of Salt Creek Grille’s agenda. For years, the restaurateurs have hosted fundraisers, dinners and other events to benefit all types of charities at all five of their restaurants, which also include El Segundo and Princeton and Rumson in New Jersey.
“As a local business owner and long-time resident of Laguna Niguel, I believe it is critical for us to support those in need within our community in any way possible,” McCune said. “We are blessed with a unique opportunity to serve a good meal once a week to the kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Capistrano Valley.”
Salt Creek Grille is at 32802 Pacific Coast Highway on the corner of Crown Valley Parkway and PCH. For more information, call 949-661-7709 or visit www.saltcreekgrille.com.
Posted on 8/27/10.
