St. Georges, Cape Henlopen students score big at statewide chef/restaurant competition
The field was wide open and it was anyone’s game at the 12th annual ProStart Invitational, a statewide competition for high school culinary arts and restaurant management students.
The “Iron Chef-meets Top Chef” competition brought together more than 100 students from 13 Delaware high schools to the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington on Wednesday, March 12.
Students from 13 high school across the state took part in the 12th Annual Delaware Prostart Student Invitational at the Chase Center on the Riverfront on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
But this year was unlike years past.
Caesar Rodney High School, a powerhouse that has claimed the state culinary arts title five years in a row and has twice walked home with the top trophy at a national competition, was nowhere to be found.
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Carrie Leishman, president and CEO of the Delaware Restaurant Association, said the Camden school was regrouping this year, didn’t field a team and winning team leader Riki Senn couldn’t participate in the program.
Delaware’s ProStart, part of a nationwide, two-year culinary arts and restaurant management program that prepares high school students for professional careers, is run by the Delaware Restaurant Foundation, a philanthropic arm of the Delaware Restaurant Association.
Lena Beck, of Dover High School, carries in her team’s prepared dishes at the 12th Annual Delaware Prostart Student Invitational at the Chase Center on the Riverfront on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
For the culinary competition, student teams prepare a three-course meal in under an hour on two Bunsen burners with no prepared-in-advance ingredients.
The meals are then judged by industrial professionals on taste, creativity, safety and sanitation, as well as culinary expertise and management skills.
From left, judges Matt Kern, Antimo DiMeo and Robert Lhulier prepare to taste a dish made by students at the 12th Annual Delaware Prostart Student Invitational at the Chase Center on the Riverfront on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
Judges included James Beard nominated chefs Matthew Kern and Antimo DiMeo; Dru Tevis, winner of the Season 9 of “The Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship”; Sean Correa, chef/co-owner of Lewes Oyster House; and Robert Lhulier of Brandywine Brasserie in Wilmington.
Sue Post, a culinary arts instructor for the past three years at Lake Forest High School in Felton, watched as her team of four juniors, Davon Boyd, Kailey Ryall, Ava Cohen and Faye Ho, cooked crispy fried oysters, chicken piccata and peppermint patty truffles for the competition.
Kailey Ryall, from Lake Forest High School, breads an oyster at the 12th Annual Delaware Prostart Student Invitational at the Chase Center on the Riverfront on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
The team, working in unison, had different skill sets. Post said Kailey, who is blind, was responsible for knife skills and for dipping the oysters in a gluten-free seasoning mixture while Davon fried the shellfish.
Post said the students, who helped plan the menu they would be serving, often use produce and eggs grown by the school’s agricultural department, and cater internal and external events.
“It’s all from scratch” she said.
Post said while some students would prefer to just attend culinary arts programs post high school at Delaware Technical Community College, she also encourages them to enroll in business managerial classes so they are prepared for all kinds of jobs in the hospitality industry.
When the smoke cleared after the culinary arts competition ended, a new champion emerged: St. Georges Technical High School. Glasgow High School was second, and Cape Henlopen High School came in third.
Cape Henlopen High School came in first in the restaurant management competition, followed by Odessa High School and Glasgow High School.
The St. Georges culinary team, mentored by chef Tom Hannum, who previously had worked with teams from Caesar Rodney High School, made seared scallops with sweet potato “risotto, pancetta, scallions and Parmesan, and served a Moroccan spiced lamb loin entree with a pan sauce, seared fingerling potatoes, carrots, snap peas and pickled beets.
Dessert included caramelized pineapple coconut steam cake with a passion fruit whipped cream, cookie, macadamia nut and white chocolate crumble, and toasted coconut.
Abbigale Joswick, of St. Georges Technical High School, decorates a cake at the 12th Annual Delaware Prostart Student Invitational at the Chase Center on the Riverfront on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
The winning culinary team from St. Georges and the restaurant management team from Cape Henlopen will compete with over 400 other student competitors at the National ProStart Invitational held Friday, May 2, to Sunday, May 4, at the Marriott Baltimore in Baltimore.
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Patricia Talorico writes about food and restaurants. You can find her on Instagram, X and Facebook. Email [email protected]. Sign up for her Delaware Eats newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: St. Georges, Cape Henlopen advance to national culinary competition
