While the winter holiday season may be months away, it is never too early to start planning for fall and winter customer appreciation, business networking and celebration events. Going with the tried-and-true restaurant from last year may make planning simple, but there are many great restaurants in Howard County available for catering your event. You may also want to consider hosting a smaller event at your home.
To guide you, a local resource is only a click away. “Table 2 Table” is a Howard Community College television show available online and on cable that takes you behind-the-scenes at Howard County’s premier restaurants. Hosted by Vinnie Rege, chair of the Center for Hospitality and Culinary Studies at the college, each half-hour episode offers insights from the owners and chefs about the regional and international influences in their cuisine, as well as what Howard County diners enjoy on their menus. You will also learn just how to make some of the iconic dishes and drinks served at the restaurants.
The latest episode takes you to the Grille at Maple Lawn, where owners Adolpho and Rocio Mendez have been introducing more and more popular Cuban dishes from their second restaurant, Cubano’s, in Silver Spring. They demonstrate how to make authentic Cuban mojitos, Chicken Fricassee and fried plantains to impress your family or guests at your next function.
If you are looking for other food options, past episodes feature cooking demonstrations of such delicious recipes as the gnudi, a pasta similar to gnocchi, but with ricotta, from Aida Bistro; the Chilean sea bass, from Alexandra’s, of Turf Valley; and even a rack of lamb and vegetable risotto from the Elkridge Furnace Inn.
Despite being served in the county’s best restaurants, these dishes can be made by chefs of all experience levels. To demonstrate, the chefs are joined by culinary students from the Center for Hospitality and Culinary Studies.
“Table 2 Table” airs weekly on Verizon (Channel 41) and Comcast (Channel 96); the online version is available on the Howard Community College YouTube channel at youtube.com/hccmd.
For more information about the Center for Hospitality and Culinary Students at Howard Community College, visit howardcc.edu.
Elizabeth Homan is executive director of public relations and marketing at Howard Community College. She can be contacted at 443-518-4073 and [email protected].