Chefs' Tasting Event Helps Harvest for Hunger

Hospital food no longer gets the bad rap it once did, but it's still not usually as varied as what the cafeteria served up for lunch recently.

Billed as Chefs' Tasting Event: International Food Fest, the benefit for Harvest for Hunger featured six stations with entrees and side dishes. For $5, guests could get samples from all six, or they could settle for a tasting at $1 each.

The food was prepared by teams from AVI Foodsystems servicing Cleveland Clinic system hospitals and . Among entrees they prepared were penette al salmon, pasta with sun-dried tomato pesto and feta cheese, wiener schnitzel with a lemon butter sauce and coffee and whole grain mustard crusted pork loin.

About 300 people sample the food and $1,190 was raised for Harvest for Hunger.

There also were awards given for:

• Best featured entree – Chef Tom Steinmetz of Euclid Hospital for pork carnitas enchiladas

• Best overall presentation and best featured side dish – Resident Director Mel Welte of Gilmour Academy for arugula pancetta and pecan salad with citrus vinaigrette