Treetops chef nominated for award

By Sam Fran Scavuzzo
Collegian Editor
April 18, 2007

La Salle University may not win a national title in basketball this year, but it still has a chance to bring home a title in one area. Thanks to Treetops Café chef Brian Kateusz, a championship may be in our midst.

Kateusz is a finalist in the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) seventh-annual food competition, the Culinary Challenge. This year’s finals will take place the second week of July in Seattle at the NACUFS National Conference. Culinary Challenge pits college chefs against each other in an Iron Chef-like competition.

“We are given an hour to prepare our dish,” Kateusz said. “It’s interesting. They have an emcee that follows you around with a camera crew, and they set up chairs for about 100 people to watch.”

Representing the Mid-Atlantic region, Kateusz qualified for the national final with his entry tofu gnocchi with wild mushrooms and crisp vegetable purse.

Competitors were instructed to craft a lacto ovo vegetarian entrée using extra firm tofu as the mandatory ingredient. They were judged on numerous nutritional stipulations, according to Kateusz.

“I have a few vegetarian friends who I cook for on a semi-regular basis,” Kateusz said. “I like cooking for them because it forces me to be creative. It’s more than just steamed vegetables.”

Kateusz is a self-taught chef, and he has received no formal culinary education.

“I worked in my stepdad’s restaurant when I was 10, making club sandwiches and stuff like that,” Kateusz said.

In college, he worked for Paolini, an Italian restaurant on the Main Line that recently closed. There he learned a lot from owner and chef Bob Bolton.

Initially, Kateusz decided not to pursue a career in cooking.

“I disliked the hours – late nights and holidays – and instead wanted to pursue my passion, music.”

He attended West Chester University, originally with a focus in classical guitar. After a year he switched to elementary education and graduated with a degree in it.

Before becomming a chef at La Salle, Kateusz taught elementary education at charter schools in West Philadelphia. He left to continue his studies and is currently pursuing a masters in computer science at La Salle. He came to La Salle through high school friend and Food Services employee Patrick Kirlin.

Aside from the competition itself, Kateusz is looking forward to touring Seattle.

“I want to check out Pike’s Place Market, being a cook,” Kateusz said. He’d enjoy having “a fish thrown at my head.”

He also noted he’d check the typical touristy things, like the Space Needle.

In preparation for the event, Kateusz has cooked his meal numerous times.

“[Executive Chef of Food Services] Royer Smith helped me so much in the creation and refinement of the recipe,” Kateusz said. “I couldn’t say enough good things about him.” Over the next week, Kateusz will be dealing with unorthodox meals a bit, as Treetops will hold another Asian History dinner.

“I think it’ll be the most ambitious and challenging meal we’ve prepared yet,” Kateusz said. “We’ll be rolling sushi and marinating duck.”

Kateusz is proud to represent the Mid-Atlantic region.

“After meeting and competing against people at the regional final, I want to bring home the gold,” Kateusz said. “I do have a good feeling knowing people I’ve met will be there supporting me.”

Competitors from The University of Colorado, University of Iowa, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Georgia and Standford University will be vying for the crown with Kateusz, according to the NACUF Web site. Last year, Edward Castillo of Rice University won. The last Mid-Atlantic representative to win was in 2005 when Rutgers University’s Sebastian Nieto emerged victorious.

Kateusz sees this competition like any other performance.

“You just have to let everything else go,” Kateusz said. “It’s like acting in a play or performing music.”

scavuzzos1@lasalle.edu