Hidden in the back of the Rittenhouse Village at Portage is a crew of unsung heroes: a staff of cooks and chefs. They bake the bread, simmer the soups, and serve some of the best meals their patrons have ever had in their lives. On April 11th they spent a rare day outside of the kitchen to present residents with their own live version of Cutthroat Kitchen.
Cookoff Host and Executive Chef Daniel Sullivan had the idea to do a competition amongst his crew when he was first hired on at Rittenhouse. The last place he worked did their own version of Chopped. He has been in the senior living business for 15 years and knew that Rittenhouse, like his previous employer, could always use more entertainment for its residents.
“If you’re in a retirement home,” Chef Daniel said, “You’re someplace you don’t want to be. To do this for them means a lot. They enjoy it, and it gives the cooks something fun to do.”
Marketing Director Judy Kukelka agreed with him and said, “It really gives our cooks a chance to come out from the kitchen and show their faces, have some fun. The residents enjoy that.”
Each cook was given a work station and an allotment of virtual money. They could spend that money on auctions of sabotage: they bid for the chance to duct tape an opponent’s arms to his sides, or for the ability to cook with odd utensils like a shovel or an eye dropper. One round even had two cooks switching work stations every few minutes.
Round one they competed to see who made the best Mexican Style breakfast. Round two was Ramen from scratch.
Jeanette McClain enjoyed her place as judge and looks forward to next year.
“It was very well organized,” she said. “There was a lot of different foods, and we all have different foods we liked. We discussed it among ourselves.”
Cook Jeremy Biella came out on top, and was awarded a $50 gift card to Gordon Food Service Marketplace.
“We like to have family and outside people come in and see where we’re at and what we are about,” he said. “We’re a community. We try to have fun, and we take care of our residents.”