Venues Today 2013 Silver Spoon Award Winners and Honorable Mentions
BEST SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE FOR 2013
Minnesota’s Target Field ‘Roots for the Hometeam’
Sportservice and the Twins have teamed up with teenage students in Minneapolis and St. Paul for a program that gets young people into gardening. The foods grown in the program are used in the salads sold at Target Field. The vegetables the program uses are grown at community gardens. At the Emerge Homegrown Garden in north Minneapolis, students grow some two dozen plants, including collard greens, kale, broccoli and cabbage. About 20 percent of the produce grown at Emerge Homegrown will end up in salads at Target Field. Students also work at the stand selling the salads at Saturday/Sunday games during the summer. Profits go to the organization.
HONORABLE MENTION GOES TO:
Vancouver Convention Centre Donates To United We Can
In 2013, Centerplate’s executive team at the Vancouver (B.C.) Convention Centre executed a sustainability program that combined the dual goals of environmental and economic partnership and responsibility: United We Can. All of the building’s recyclables – wine and liquor bottles, and pop and beer cans and bottles – are donated to United We Can. Because those can be returned for money, this program capitalizes on opportunity while creating full-time and part-time jobs for low-income residents. To date, Centerplate has donated nearly 500,000 beverage containers, a value of $24,000 to this charity, allowing them to employ low-income residents to carry out social enterprises that benefit the local community.
BEST NEW CONCEPT IN FOOD AND DRINK FOR 2013
The Kitchen Experience
The Kitchen Experience brings Ovations’ chefs out to the floor, allowing them to interact with guests and demonstrate the execution of cuisine being freshly prepared. Large overhead adjustable mirrors capture the entire show and guests can tell the Chef directly how they would like their food cooked. The Kitchen is modular and can be strategically placed in any event space. Ovations at the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Convention Center invited city officials to the Center for a hands-on presentation of The Kitchen in March 2013. This new concept has been added to the wedding menu package in Sioux Falls.
HONORABLE MENTION GOES TO:
Edgar’s Cantina at Safeco Field in Seattle
To create Edgar’s Cantina, Centerplate, along with the Seattle Mariners, removed 384 seats from the center field bleachers at Safeco Field to make room for the two-level restaurant and bar. Located on the “Home Run Porch” in the outfield, Edgar’s features an innovative “Northwest Mex” menu created by Chef Ethan Stowell, avid Mariner’s fan. The cantina features a line of signature cocktails created by Seattle legend Anu Apte, owner of the Rob Roy lounge. These new drinks are all made with Zac, the specialty mezcal that the Cantina’s namesake, Edgar Martinez, and business partner Gene Juarez import from Mexico.
BEST NEW MENU ITEM FOR 2013
Beer Shakes
Minor League Baseball’s Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs at Joseph R. Riley, Jr. Park and their Director of Food and Beverage John Schumacher introduced Beer Shakes made with beer and ice cream. They introduced three flavors involving local Palmetto Brewery, a regional brewery Sweet Water, and international brewery Guinness. Flavors include Palmetto Espresso, Porter Chocolate, Sweet Water Pale Ale 420 Strawberry, and Guinness Caramel. Each Beer Shake costs $6.
HONORABLE MENTION GOES TO:
Kuku Paka
Oregon Convention Center in Portland has introduced Kuku Paka. Executive Chef Allan Wambaa, from Nairobi, Kenya, introduced the dish. Kuku Paka is a Chili-Rubbed Draper Valley Chicken Skewer with an Oregon Hazelnut Crust seared on an Evo grill and served over West India Spiced Biryani Rice, which includes raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, and coriander. It is served with Tangy Njugu sauce —Kenyan style peanut sauce — and cabbage slaw.