P-CCS grads nab culinary awards

After Peter and Louis Poulos’ father passed away, the two brothers wanted to do something to keep his memory alive.

Something for the community where he’d lived.

Karl, their dad, had been a chef and the founder of the Plymouth restaurant Karl’s Cabin. “He was always really big on promoting education, professionalism — loved food — the whole spirit of the culinary industry,” said Peter. So the brothers decided on a scholarship, aimed at helping culinary students local to the area.

The scholarship is offered through the Plymouth-Canton Educational Excellence Foundation. Gretchen Ward is the foundation’s executive director. She met Peter at an event he was catering, and when he mentioned his idea, she was quick to jump on board. Ward called the Poulos brothers “terrific guys” and strong supporters of local initiatives. “They have a really deep history within our community,” she said.

Karl’s Cabin dates from 1945, when it opened as a log cabin roadhouse called Rusceak's Rustic Tavern. It led a rough-and-tumble existence throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s, earning a reputation for rowdy patrons, brawls, and traveling musicians looking to strike it big on the country circuit — including a young fellow by the name of Johnny Cash.

Karl Poulos purchased the restaurant in 1981, opening it in late 1982 as a family restaurant and banquet facility. Karl was the cook. His wife, Sophia, managed the front of the house.

Peter and Louis didn’t plan to carry on the family business. Both went to Michigan State University: Peter for law and Louis for engineering. But tradition, it seems, ran in their blood. “We were both kind of unhappy in the corporate world,” said Peter. When they heard their parents were getting ready to put the restaurant up for sale, they decided to jump in.

The brothers have co-owned the restaurant for 19 years, with Louis serving as kitchen director and Peter as head of guest relations. Both of them helped out at the restaurant when they were growing up, so they know what it’s like to be a young person in the industry.

And when it came time to judge the scholarship entries, the up-and-coming generation of chefs had them impressed.

In order to qualify for a Karl’s Cabin scholarship, students had to be high school seniors or graduates, enrolled in culinary school or a culinary arts program with a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA. Each applicant also had to submit an original recipe and an essay on why he or she chose to pursue culinary arts as a career. “They wanted to see their creativity, get to know each student as a chef, and get a really good picture of who they were awarding the scholarships to,” Ward explained.

Originally, Karl’s Cabin had put aside funding for two awards of $1,000 each. Six students applied, which Ward said is great turnout for the first year. But when Peter and Louis looked over the applications, four of them really, really stuck out.

“We didn’t have the heart to give it to just two,” said Peter. “So of course, being the bleeding heart kind of guys we are, we decided to do two more.”

This year’s recipients are Paul DiNicola, Zachary Chouinard, Brynna Samuels, and Emma Stephens. All graduated from the Plymouth-Canton high school culinary program and will be attending Schoolcraft College this fall, two as freshmen and two as sophomores.

Diana Woodward is head of the Plymouth-Canton culinary program. “It’s a very intense, high-pressure program, almost a college-simulated curriculum,” she said. As part of their training, Woodward’s students run a full-service restaurant at Salem High. “Everything is made from scratch, in-house,” she said. “We butcher our own products that come in every day.”

Woodward also heads up the culinary team, which competes every year in the ProStart high school competition. Emma Stephens, 18, of Canton was captain of the team that took second at nationals this year. “She was all in, all the time,” said Woodward, “even dropping other activities, like pom, to focus on culinary.”

Stephens got interested in the culinary field in middle school, partly through watching Food Network on TV. She aspires to become a private chef, maybe a pastry chef, and her recipe entry was a dessert she created for the national competition: a white chocolate truffle with caramelized ganache.

Paul DiNicola, 19, of Canton has wanted to be a chef since the second grade. He’s going into his second year at Schoolcraft, and he credits his Italian heritage for the career choice.

“My grandma on my father’s side was an Italian immigrant,” he said. “I have home videos of me making homemade pasta with her, and pizza. Everybody is so happy when they’re cooking.” After graduation, he wants to travel to Italy and spend time working in several restaurants, “trying to learn as much as I possibly can.”

For his scholarship recipe, DiNicola chose a dish he’d been working on for six months: braised lamb shank pasta in a tomato-parmesan puree. “Because I’m Italian, I like pasta,” he said. “Also, I was trained in French cooking, so I combined the two, and I think it worked out pretty well.”

DiNicola and Zachary Chouinard both work at the Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms. Previously, DiNicola worked at Karl’s Cabin—as have a number of Woodward’s students. “We have a great relationship with Karl’s,” she said. “I send them someone to work, and they know that they’re going to be good.”

Samuels and Stephens both joined on at Karl’s Cabin after winning their scholarships. The two were looking for summer jobs, and it was the perfect opportunity. “When we presented (the awards) to them, they applied for positions here,” said Peter, “and we were so glad to bring them on for summer help.”

All four recipients will be working with chefs at Karl’s Cabin to create and serve a six-course fundraiser dinner on Aug. 31, with 100 percent of the proceeds going toward next year’s scholarship fund.

The dinner will be a celebration of Michigan produce available in the month of August. Woodward helped the students put together the menu, and she said they’re all really passionate about locally sourced food. “The kids all contributed flavors that they liked,” she said. “They wanted to do something really progressive and interesting.” Some of the dishes include watermelon gazpacho shooter, steak and shrimp with potatoes and Swiss chard, and brown butter cake with fruit sorbet.

Tickets are $49/person, available online at http://bit.ly/29YDTqd or by calling (734) 455-8450. The dinner will be held at Karl’s Cabin Restaurant & Bar, located at 6005 Gotfredson Road.

It’s a casual event, despite the fancy fare. “This is about supporting the local community,” said Peter. “We’re not trying to do anything stuffy — it’s meant to be fun. The kids are going to put together an amazing meal for the night, and we are excited.”