A gourmet burger chef lives among the average barbecuers in
Morgan Hill – and she’s only 10 years old. P.A. Walsh fourth-grader
Priya Zahrt entered the Red Robin Kids’ Cookoff with
”
The Roasted-Grilled-Crispy Burger
”
and won first place at the Morgan Hill restaurant at Cochrane
Plaza.
A gourmet burger chef lives among the average barbecuers in Morgan Hill – and she’s only 10 years old.
P.A. Walsh fourth-grader Priya Zahrt entered the Red Robin Kids’ Cookoff with “The Roasted-Grilled-Crispy Burger” and won first place at the Morgan Hill restaurant at Cochrane Plaza. Her recipe advanced her to the second round and will be part of Red Robins’ gourmet burger cookbook due out this spring.
For one night only the public can enjoy Zahrt’s juicy cheeseburger piled with roasted bell peppers, bacon, grilled onions, avocado and cheddar from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday as part of a P.A. Walsh fundraiser. Patrons just need to pick up a flier from the Walsh front office and bring it along.
Priya’s mom Asha, who is Indian, said the exposure to Indian food and accessibility to her grandparents’ cooking along with Priya’s father’s German and Czech roots sparked an interest in cooking culturally.
“She handed me a list and it had the most bizarre requests: avocados, mild cheddar, roasted red peppers. I had to tell her ‘honey you have to bring them home and roast them.’ The great thing is she came up with the list on her own,” Asha said.
Her mom helped her cut and chop, but Priya created the burgers on her own. Her recipe had to be precise; she even requested Mom to go back to the grocery store to fetch mild cheddar not medium.
“She wanted something really exciting with a specific taste,” Asha said.
The contest advertised that the grand-prize winner would win a family vacation to Universal Studios in Orlando for four. Priya went home, read through the rules, then asked Asha an important question.
“So which one of my brothers do I have to leave at home?” she said. “We said if she made it happen for four, we would make it happen for five,” Asha said. While Priya won’t be flying to Florida on Red Robins’ dime, she did host her 10th birthday party at the Morgan Hill restaurant – and the manager even made her burger for her friends.
“The burger was definitely excellent,” Asha said.
To read more about the cookoff go to www.redrobinkidscookoff.com.
