UES Teen Chef Cooks Up Cash For Kids With Cancer
"I want to show other kids that they can help kids," says Joshua Small, 14. Joshua Small, a 14-year-old chef from the Upper East Side, has planned a dinner event to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House, where he will serve as a tasting menu with 60 people. The event, hosted by catering company Tastings NYC, will be the biggest dinner Small has ever planned. Small will have significant help from his friend, Alexander Morris, who will handle front-of-house operations. The dinner will take place at 251 East 110th St., where Tastens NYC owns the Spanish restaurant, GAUDIr. Tickets cost $250 each and tickets include a cocktail hour on a veranda with drinks and hors d'oeuvres, followed by a three-course meal curated by Small. Small and Morris hope to make this biannual event a focus on raising money for kids with cancer and inspire others to do so.
ที่ตีพิมพ์ : 4 อาทิตย์ที่แล้ว โดย Peter Senzamici ใน Lifestyle
Joshua Small might only be 14-years-old, but the teen chef has meticulously planned an ambitious dinner event to help raise money for the Ronald McDonald House — a tasting menu with service for 60 people. The April 27 event — hosted by a bespoke catering company, Tastings NYC, at their East Harlem restaurant — will be the biggest dinner Small has ever planned.
Before this, Small told Patch in a phone interview, the largest meal he's cooked before was a three-course dinner party for about 18 people. "Sixty people is pretty big," said Small, who created the menu and is sourcing all of the food and ingredients himself, "and it's really cool."
Small will have big help from his 14-year-old friend, Alexander Morris, who is handling everything front-of-house.
"We're really excited about it. And yeah, it's really cool because we're both really interested in helping the Ronald McDonald House."
The event will take place at 251 East 110th St., where Tastings NYC owns the Spanish restaurant, GAUDIr. There are two seatings for 30 people each and the tickets include a cocktail hour on a veranda with drinks and hors d'oeuvres, followed by a three-course meal, curated by Small, based on local and seasonal ingredients.
Both teens have already been involved with raising money for the charity, which provides families with housing, meals, transportation and activities when staying in Manhattan for pediatric cancer treatments. Morris has helped raise money and volunteer for the Ronald McDonald House, located on East 73rd Street and York Avenue on the Upper East Side, and has made hot chocolate kits for the residents at the house during the holidays. Small says he was inspired to help out when a café down the street from his Upper East Side school got a postcard from a parent of a cancer patient who told them how much they appreciated their delicious croissants. "It was because that was the only thing their sick child could eat," Small said. After he heard that story, Small said he was "touched" by the meaningful role food played in helping that young child's experience.
An avid and passionate cook since he was young, Small — who got to hone his skills during the pandemic and has attended the Institute of Culinary Education and runs a Catskills-based catering company — connected with the café, Chez Les Frenchies, and asked about doing fundraiser. Over the last two years, Small has cooked up lasagnas, soups and vegetable curry for the café to sell for a fundraiser week, raising over $2,100 for the charity. But this year, Small and Morris are setting their eyes on something bigger. Which, to be frank, Small says, is scary. "We're both really excited for the event," he told Patch, "but also apprehensive about the amount of people and the scale of the event in general." Small won't be alone in the kitchen — a pair of chefs from Tastings NYC will be working under the young executive chef during the evening, helping him get dishes out to the hungry, charity-minded diners.
Small and Morris want the dinner to become a biannual event, with all the profits going to help the kids and families at the Ronald McDonald House. For Small, the event is not only about raising money for kids with cancer — it's about all kids out there. "Really one of the main things that we also want to do through this is to show other kids that regardless of your age, you can help others, and you can also help kids," Small said. "Kids can help kids." Tickets cost $250 each, and you can buy your own seat for Chef Josh's tasting menu — or simply make a donation — by clicking here.