Guest Chef Night ft. Chef Alex Harrell

Chef Harrell

Last Thursday was our sixth Guest Chef Night, this time featuring Chef Alex Harrell of Angeline.  Chef Harrell opened Angeline in 2015, and is both executive chef and owner of Angeline.  His food “brings a fresh, refined approach on Southern cuisine to the French Quarter.”  Chef Harrell uses fresh, local southern ingredients and incorporates French techniques to create elevated Southern dishes. Originally from Alabama, he is passionate about bringing his vision of Southern food to New Orleans.

To Chef Harrell, cooking is about community. Chef Harrell participated in Guest Chef Night as an opportunity to give back to the local culinary community  and have a special day in a new kitchen.  He arrived at 2 PM to prepare and cook the entire meal with LK trainees. For the menu, he wanted to keep the dishes light and summery. The meal was delicious! 

Our graduates: Liberty, Janisha, and Devon

During the event, we took the time to celebrate three special Liberty’s Kitchen graduates.

Liberty graduated from the program last year; she’s been working as a barista trainer in the cafe for the past eight months.  We celebrated Liberty last night because she is about to have a baby!

Devon is the second graduate we celebrated.  He completed his externship as a host and busser at The Ruby Slipper Cafe, and was offered a job to stay on at the restaurant.

Last but not least, we honored Janisha, who graduated from the Youth Development Program on Friday!  She completed her externship as a host at The Ruby Slipper Cafe.  Her favorite tier of the program was catering and baking.  Janisha is looking forward to returning to Oglethorpe University in Atlanta this fall.  

“I don’t have anything negative to say,  I gave [LK] a try and loved it since the very first day.  I learned to ‘trust the process.’  It can refer to anything, like going back to school, or trust in yourself.” — Janisha

 

Thanks again to Chef Harrell and Angeline! Special thanks to sponsor Home Place Pastures  for donating the pork belly and conducting a presentation with our trainees about ethical meat farming.

Thanks to West Elm for continuously providing gorgeous event decor, and to our hard-working volunteers who make these dinners possible. If you’re interested in volunteering, click here for more information.

Guest Chef Night was such a blast, the food was amazing, and it’s always great to celebrate our graduates. We are excited to announce that on August 17th, Chef Ysaac Ramirez of Josephine Estelle at the Ace Hotel will be our next guest chef!  Make sure to get your tickets here, and we will see you then. 

Celebrating our young people

Posted by Miriam Teller, Development Intern