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Three Hospitality Management Students Awarded 2003 'Brooklyn Eats' Scholarships
From left, City Tech hospitality management students and 2003 Brooklyn Eats scholarship recipients Ebow Dadzie, Monica Ng and Peter Pinkhasov at work on their almond and butterscotch gateau in the College's pastry arts kitchen.
Professor Lorenzini with "Brooklyn Eats" scholarship recipients. From left, Peter Pinkhasov, Ebow Dadzie and Monica Ng.
They served up $1,000 scholarships to three City
Tech hospitality management students
-- in addition to unlimited tastings of the signature dishes of
scores of Brooklyn's best restaurants -- again this year at the
"Brooklyn Eats" foodfest at the New York Marriott at the
Brooklyn Bridge on October 20. The celebrated annual event is sponsored
by the Brooklyn Alliance, a non-profit, economic development affiliate
of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, and attracts a food-loving
crowd from throughout the city.
The three students -- Ebow Dadzie, Monica Ng and Peter
Pinkhasov -- all seniors, were presented with their scholarship
checks by Chamber of Commerce President Ken Adams at a ceremony
during the foodfest. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz,
Brooklyn Chamber Chairman Alan H. Fishman, City Council Speaker
Gifford Miller, City Council member and Brooklyn Delegation Leader
Lewis Fidler, State Assembly Member Joan Millman, City Tech President
Fred Beaufait, Department of Hospitality Management Chair Francisco
Betancourt and other city, borough and college officials looked
on. Committed to the preparation of fine food and not the sort to
take the money and run, the three students worked their own "Brooklyn
Eats" pastry station, featuring an almond and butterscotch
gateau that garnered rave reviews.
After enrolling in the City Tech hospitality management program, Ebow Dadzie turned his love for desserts into a passion. Wanting to learn first-hand all about the French pastry arts, he later spent three months at study in Castera Verduzan in the southwest of France. He has been a member of City Tech's award-winning student team at the annual International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show culinary and pastry arts competitions at Javits Center. He is currently employed as an assistant pastry chef at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan under executive pastry chef Wing Cheung, a top contestant in this year's prestigious U.S. Pastry Competition. Both of Ebow's parents are City Tech graduates.
Born in China, Monica Ng spent most of her youth in Venezuela and then immigrated to New York City at age 19. Her life, she says, has been one of constant changes that have enabled her to truly appreciate the differences in the varied cultures to which she has been exposed. Multilingual, Ng was attracted to the hospitality management program's baccalaureate option in travel and tourism when enrolling at City Tech. But after taking courses in its culinary components, she shifted her interest to food, particularly the pastry arts. Ng also has represented the College at International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show competitions, was a member of the City Tech team that won first prize and shared a $2,500 scholarship in the Marriott Marquis' "Gingerbread on Broadway" contest late last year and was part of the City Tech exchange with l'Université d'Evry, the college of technology of the University of Paris.
A native of Kazakhstan and the oldest child in his family, Peter Pinkhasov learned how to cook and bake from his mother. After immigrating to New York City in 1996 and completing high school, he planned to enroll at the Culinary Institute of America but found the tuition prohibitive. So he enrolled in City Tech's engineering technology program and once on campus learned that the College also offered a program in hospitality management. After switching majors, he became active in the Anna Nurse Culinary Workshop Series and was a member of the student team that helped prepare the MetroTech Business Improvement District's giant "Caesar Salad" that made the Guinness Book of Records a few years ago. He has been employed as a prep chef and assistant sous chef with Credit Lyonnaise and has also worked for Lederman's, the largest catering hall in Bayside, Queens. Another member of City Tech's award-winning International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show team, he is currently interning with the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge and plans to continue for a master's degree and pursue a career as an executive chef.
The first "Brooklyn Eats" foodfest was held in 1997 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music to help celebrate publication of a dining guide of the same name to the borough's many fine restaurants. Over the years, City Tech hospitality management students have worked alongside participating Brooklyn chefs, brewers and food purveyors to help stage this highly successful testimonial to the fact that you don't have to venture out of the borough to have a great meal.
Photo 1 by Luis Garcia
Photo 2 by Dominick Sarica
