MURRAY – The culinary students at the Murray-Calloway County Area Technology Center are preparing to once again wow local foodies with the upcoming fifth annual ATC Bistro.
The dinner will be held inside the ATC at 126 Robertson Road from 5-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 27-28. Tickets for the six-course meal or for sale now and may be purchased from any culinary arts student or by calling 270-753-1870.
Chef Kathleen Holman has been teaching culinary classes for about 16 years, and the ATC Bistro began in 2022 both to raise money for the program and to give the students some real-life experience preparing fancy cuisine for large groups of people. After the first year was a success, ATC Principal Dan Hicks strongly urged her to continue it.
This year’s theme is “Italian Dream,” and while one of the courses is a choice of pasta dishes, much of the menu is not the stereotypical fare many Americans might imagine when they think of Italian food. Main courses include swordfish steak topped with cherry tomato and caper relish, served with sautéed broccolini; veal piccata with lemon caper sauce, mashed potatoes, and sautéed asparagus; eggplant parmesan with fresh mozzarella and homemade marinara; and chicken roulade stuffed with aged provolone, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach, served with pesto risotto.
This year’s executive chefs are Calloway County High School juniors Julian Holman and Tyler Sadler. They both said the participation from their fellow students has been very strong this time around.
“We’re extremely grateful this year for having a lot more people show up for practices and participating,” Julian said. “The last few years, it’s been a little rough trying to make that happen, so I’m really, really grateful and thankful for the team we have right now. That being said, this is probably one of the happiest moments of my life. I’ve been in the bistro since eighth grade, and I’ve helped out with it since the first year, which was my seventh grade year, so for me to finally get to organize this stuff and pull these people together has been a big, big dream of mine.”
Julian said the class has been using the freshest ingredients they can get their hands on, and they have tried to keep the menu as simple and authentically Italian as possible. He said many of the students making up the kitchen crew this year have gotten involved for the first time, and he has been very impressed by the skills they have developed.
“A lot of them actually came up to me (early in the process), and said they were not confident and that they didn’t know what they were doing,” Julian said. “But now I just (stand back) and they’re just able to cook away. I think they’re doing way better than they thought they would be doing.”
Dining and Cooking