Eight mixologists help Delaware high schoolers fulfill their dreams

From 4 to 7 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 28, eight local celebrity bartenders will make Fork + Flask @ Nage ground zero for competitive cocktails, tasty snacks and lots of fun. The annual Winter Cocktail Party not only showcases much of our behind-the-bar talent here at the beach, but also benefits the RehobothFoodie.com/Touch of Italy Culinary Scholarship Fund.

Eight high-profile mixologists will bring their A game to the event, whipping up one-of-a-kind potables using Dogfish Head Distilling's new Barrel Honey Rum. Competitors are putting their respective heads together to come up with award-winning cocktail recipes - and word on the street is that ingredients like mint, honey and even grapefruit juice are under consideration. In fact, LaVida Hospitality's Josh Grapski has invited Fork + Flask's Facebook followers to post their recipe suggestions online. The bartenders will be keeping an eye on Facebook to spark some one-of-a-kind cocktail ideas for the Winter Cocktail Party ticketholders. 

Apparently Grapski is in a particularly generous mood this winter, because he has created a discount promo code for ticket buyers at the Fork + Flask website. Now this is supposed to be a secret, so keep this under wraps: When you are buying your Winter Cocktail Party tickets, enter the code FOODIE into the promo code space. Not only will you receive a discount on your tickets, but there will also be a special take-home prize waiting for you at the event. 

To balance out the collection of delectable sips, Fork + Flask's Executive Chef Sean Corea promises some tasty nibbles and bites to go along with the creative cocktails. Last year, some of the stars of the food show included an elaborate slider station featuring slider-friendly fillings such as braised, shredded and perfectly spiced short rib, savory pulled chicken and Moroccan lamb meatballs. And of course no party in Rehoboth Beach would be complete without cookies. 

The RehobothFoodie.com/Touch of Italy Culinary Scholarship Fund provides tuition assistance to Delaware high school graduates who successfully complete the Delaware Restaurant Association's ProStart curriculum: an industry-written high school-level program for kids who dream of careers in the culinary arts. Qualifying students receive grants to help continue their education at full-time professional culinary schools. The Culinary Scholarship Fund has already sent deserving Delaware high school graduates to New York's Culinary Institute of America, the culinary program at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island and North Carolina, and The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia (the alma mater of Cape Region luminaries such as Kevin Reading (Nage restaurant founder and current boss at Abbott's Grill and Brick Works); Hari Cameron (chef/owner of restaurant a(MUSE.) and Grandpa MAC), and La Vida Hospitality boss Josh Grapski himself (a seasoned chef and restaurant designer in his own right). 

It has been so gratifying to see our Cape Region food industry people team up to encourage Delaware high school graduates to seek a career in professional food service. Sam & Mariah of Dogfish Head Distilling and LaVida Hospitality will donate all the required product, along with local restaurants that are generously stepping up to the plate (or more accurately, the glass). The RehobothFoodie.com/Touch of Italy Scholarship Foundation especially thanks the top-notch barkeeps who have kindly donated their time, effort and talent to help Delaware teens acquire the education and skills to join them in the business of eating here in the Cape Region.