Byron Nelson team wins Culinary Star Competition

A team from Northwest ISD’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Academy is coming home with a major award after winning the overall grand prize at Aramark’s Culinary Star Competition last weekend. Held at Minute Maid Park in Houston, the competition featured 14 of the best high school culinary teams from throughout Texas.

NISD’s team of Madelynn Boyd, Thomas Frisinger and Jonathan Mayer (all juniors at Byron Nelson High School) earned a $6,000 scholarship prize from Chrane and Mod-U-Serve that will be divided evenly and paid to their colleges.

The Gourmet Bobcats, who won NISD’s district competition in January to advance to Houston, had to create and prepare a vegetarian lunch entrée. They had one hour to compete and had to incorporate two secret ingredients. Additionally, their recipe had to stay within the K-12 dietary guidelines.

The trio prepared a “Bolognese” pasta that incorporated miso paste, heirloom tomatoes and kale. The dish wowed the judges and earned the team the title of Culinary Stars!