Carver Celebration, as the event is known, will feature performances and demonstrations by students of the all-magnet Baltimore County Public School. For the fifth year in row, students in the school's culinary program will be preparing food for the event in collaboration with local chefs and restaurant managers, who have been mentoring them at the school in preparation for the celebration.
The chefs include Thomas Brown (Bon Appetit), John Walsh (Chef's Expressions), Bill Crouse, pictured, (Kooper's Tavern and Slainte Irish Pub), Rachid Eido and Josh Halbedel (Lebanese Taverna), Nancy Longo (Pierpont), Jay Caragy (Spro) and Richard Karoll. Longo and Crouse are veterans of the mentoring programs, which brings in a new roster of chefs every year.
The mentoring program was hatched by and still looked after by Carver Center Foundation board member Ron Furman (Max's on Broadway) when his older daughter was attending the school.
"The kids come at this with so much passion," Furman told me, "and the chefs love doing it."
Richard Karoll, who is back for the third year helping students plan and prepare desserts, told me, "I wish I could have done this when I was in high school. Some of these kids are amazing."