Dallas Chef nurtures at-risk youth at upscale restaurant

Chef Chad Houser of Dallas became a “CNN Hero” last week, featured in an article and video that highlights his work with Dallas County at-risk youth.

The many other heroes of the story are the dozens of young men and women who’ve lifted themselves up and found a path toward a lawful life and productive career by training in the culinary arts under Houser’s tutelage.

Their story is one of working together for success. It starts in 2011, when Houser began volunteering to teach kids in Dallas County juvenile detention how to cook. He discovered that many of the youth had simply failed to draw the best cards in life; they’d endured poverty, violence and had veered into crime. Their stories drew Houser in and he built the program up to became a full-fledged enterprise in which at-risk youth work alongside professionals at a high end restaurant, Café Momentum, in the heart of downtown Dallas.

Café Momentum is truly upscale, with the requisite elements, like $40 bottles of wine and exotic hors d’oeuvres such as Octapus Tiradito. There’s farro risotto, and creamed Swiss chard, and spaghetti squash and green harissa and other things you go to restaurants to learn about.

But the cafe operates as a non-profit and its goals are down to earth. The money raised at dinners (served Thursday, Friday and Saturday) supports 12-month paid internships for young men and women who’ve served time in Dallas County juvenile facilities. The youth learn culinary skills and other aspects of the restaurant business and are required to enroll in regular education classes.

Read the full CNN story here.
Watch the CNN video here.

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