by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Just like the line at the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse table Sunday evening at the Avenues Mall, the “Caring Chefs” charity event continues to grow after 25 years.
The annual fundraiser for the Children’s Home Society of Florida(CHS) showed no signs of slowing down after its 25th birthday. The event is estimated to have hosted more than the 2,200 people who attended and $165,000 raised last year.
“We continue to get bigger and better every year,” said David Clark, director of development for CHS.
The list of participating restaurants increased to 60 this year.
Veteran establishments such as Ragtime, 22 years participating; The Augustine Grille, 19 years; Campeche Bay Cantina and Timuquana Country Club, 17 years; and Peterbrooke Chocolatier, 16 years; were joined by first-year participants including The Capital Grille and Pusser’s Caribbean Grill.
“It builds employee moral. We volunteer our time to come out and do this,” said David Diaz, General Manager of River City Brewing Company, a nine-year contributor to the “Caring Chefs” event. “It’s something nice to do for a great charity and we have a great time doing it.”
It only took one trip to the event to hook the people at The Capital Grille.
“This is our first year participating. We weren’t open at this time last year, but we were given tickets so we could see what it was all about,” said Joe Zacker, managing partner of The Capital Grille. “After attending the event, we said we were in.”
For Pusser’s Caribbean Grill, all that was needed was a call to get the Ponte Vedra establishment to attend.
“We were asked to be a part of the event and it was an easy decision,” said Chris DeLay, of Pusser’s Caribbean Grille. “We are all about giving to charity and giving back to the community.”
It may not have been a school night, but some students were earning credit while contributing to a good cause.
“(Caring Chefs) brings in a lot of people to raise a lot of money for a good cause,” said Bill McCool, chef with the Florida Community College of Jacksonville’s Culinary School, a 14-year participant. “It also provides an environment for our students to showcase their talents.”
Dishes from both land and sea were showcased at the event and were paired with wine, salads, vegetarian entrees and a variety of deserts.
A few signature dishes included a porcini-rubbed filet mignon with 12-year old balsamic onion marmalade topped with Grana Padano cheese presented by The Capital Grille; Tuna Beck, made of peppercorn-seared and marinated Ahi tuna with Asian slaw from Aqua Grill; chicken and veggie sausage with fire-roasted red pepper sauce from FCCJ Culinary School; island-style pork dumplings with chili beurre blanc sauce from Pusser’s Caribbean Grille; and banana dumplings from P.F. Changs.
The event was held as the annual fundraiser for CHS, which was founded in 1902 and is a children’s advocacy group and social service provider. The Buckner Division in Jacksonville has helped more than 80,000 children and families in the last 24 years. This help has included placing 8,000 children in temporary foster homes, providing a home for more than 10,000 children in CHS family-style group homes and finding permanent homes through infant adoption services for more than 800 children.
“This is my first year attending and the food is great,” said David Hayes, of Orange Park. “I’ll definitely be back next year.”
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