Cynthia L. Herzog 
Central Texas College’s Culinary Arts Program will host a Patio Café dinner on Friday, showcasing the flavors of America. Dinner will be served from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the culinary arts area of the Student Center campus, building 220.
The menu opens with a choice of starters, soups and salads. Appetizer choices are the Louisiana Crawfish Dip ($8.50) – a creamy Cajun-inspired dip with sautéed crawfish tail meat, cream cheese, and holy trinity vegetables in dice served with crispy garlic crostini; and Hawaiian spring rolls ($6) – deep-fried spring rolls stuffed with diced chicken, shredded cabbage, bean sprouts and julienned carrots served with a sweet and sour sauce.
The featured soup is a chicken tortilla ($8 for a bowl or $3.50 for a cup with entree) – shredded chicken, black beans, diced tomatoes, jalapeno, onions and Mexican spices topped with tortilla strips, d avocado, cilantro and a wedge of lime. The soup is served with a house salad, honey oat roll and iced tea.
Diners can choose either the Crispy California Cobb Salad ($12.50) – a bed of romaine lettuce with an arrangement of diced bacon bits, quartered hard-boiled eggs, sliced cherry tomatoes, avocados, shallots sliced, crumbled feta and crispy fried chicken breasts served with green goddess dressing; or the house salad ($4 or free with an entrée) – a combination of fresh salads, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, bacon bits, cheese and croutons.
Starters are Central Plains Stuffed Pork ($16.50) – a spice-encrusted pork loin stuffed with a filling made from seared apple fennel and roasted in the oven before being topped with a mushroom au brandy and Dijon brown sauce served over a creamy risotto alongside sautéed green beans and cherry tomatoes; Southern BBQ Chicken ($17.50) – alder wood smoked half chicken finished on a rotisserie while drizzling with Tennessee Bourbon BBQ Sauce. The chicken is served over rosemary-onion roasted potatoes and southern-style honey-glazed carrots.
Other entrees are the Sous Vide Steak ($22) – a hand-cut eight-ounce New York strip flavored with garlic and thyme, cooked in a medium-rare sous vide sauce, seared to create a bordelaise sauce with mushrooms and shallots served with bacon and hasselback potatoes with cheddar and crispy parmesan broccoli; salmon en papilotte ($21) – a six-ounce Northwestern salmon fillet steamed in parchment on a bed of julienned vegetables topped with herb butter and served with sautéed green beans and cherry tomatoes and an Israeli couscous pilaf; and the Southwestern Chipotle Chop ($18.50) – Bone-in center cut French pork chop marinated and grilled with a chipotle-lime and cilantro rub served with southern-style honey-glazed carrots and a potato Hasselback earth with bacon and cheddar. All entrees are served with a house salad, iced tea and a honey oat roll.
Complete the meal with a dessert from either Apple and Blueberry Cobbler ($6) – a New England-style cobbler with french fries and blueberries topped with a layer of crispy crumbled oats served with homemade maple-nut ice cream; Cherry Upside-Down Cake ($5) – a moist yellow cake dessert with a sweet cherry filling topped with amaretto whipped cream; or Guiness Stout cake ($7) – rich, decadent chocolate cake with a squeeze of Guinness and strawberry compote finished with chocolate ganache frosting and topped with a fresh strawberry.
Reservations for the Flavors of America Patio Café dinner are required and can be made by calling CTC’s Guest Service at 254-526-1515.
