Apr 29, 2004 By Cindy Ekas-Brown 6 min read

Chef Joe Carei, the owner of Caileigh’s Restaurant in Uniontown, realizes how important it is for culinary students to receive the education they need to make their cooking careers sizzle. Carei said he learned that valuable lesson the hard way through his own personal experience in the restaurant business.

After he graduated from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove with a bachelor’s degree in communications, Carei planned to pursue a journalism career. But his life suddenly took a turn in a different direction when he was working as a dishwasher and cook at the Uniontown Country Club and The Boston Beanery Restaurant at the Uniontown Mall.

“I was making more money in the restaurant business than I was working as a stringer and writing sports stories for local newspapers,” Carei said during a recent interview. “I have a communications degree, but I had been in the restaurant business since I was 16 years old. I even managed a restaurant during my last two years of college to help pay for my college education.”

In an effort to earn enough money to pay his bills, Carei decided to focus his energy on cooking instead of writing. But he quickly learned that he didn’t have the educational background that he needed for the job. His lack of education led him to make some costly mistakes.

“I realize how important education is because I found out the hard way that it’s costly to learn on the job,” he said. “When I opened my first restaurant in Brownsville, I thought I knew everything, but I soon began to realize that I didn’t. I know now that some culinary classes would have really helped me and saved me a lot of time and money when I was starting out.”

Eight years after he entered the restaurant business, Carei made a decision to enroll in some culinary education classes in an effort to improve his culinary knowledge and skills and make his business more profitable.

During the week, Carei traveled to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., where he enrolled in culinary classes. On the weekends, he operated Caileigh’s Restaurant in Brownsville, which he later sold to one of his employees when he decided to open a second Caileigh’s Restaurant in Uniontown.

It was a grueling and demanding schedule that eventually paid off for Carei, but it taught him a valuable lesson that he will never forget.

“I did it the hard way, and that’s why I believe in culinary education for students who want to become chefs and eventually open their own restaurants,” he said. “I don’t want to see these kids make the same mistakes that I made if I can help it.”

Because of his personal experience, Carei has supported the “Taste of the Laurel Highlands,” an event that benefits the Laurel Highlands Chapter of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association Scholarship Program, for the past eight years.

Carei also recently visited the Fayette County Vocational-Technical School where he demonstrated some of his cooking techniques to culinary students under the supervision of Melissa McKulka, culinary arts instructor.

The Laurel Highlands Chapter sponsors the scholarship program, which has awarded as much as $100,000 to about 100 culinary students during the past decade.

This year’s fund-raising event themed “Culinary Carnivale” will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday in the Marquis Ballroom at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa in Farmington.

Nearly 25 restaurants and beverage companies will participate in what Carei calls “one of the most successful chef scholarship programs statewide.”

Some of the participating restaurants include The Boston Beanery, Braddock Inn, Caileigh’s Restaurant, Golden Trout, Fayette County Vocational-Technical School, Lautrec, Pastry Shop at Nemacolin, Romeo and Sons Dessert & Gourmet Coffee, Seasons, Shady Side Inn, North Fayette County Vocational-Technical School and the Thompson House Restaurant.

Beverage companies are Bartolomeo Pio Winery, Christian Klay Winery, Coca-Cola, Frank Fureher-Coors, Frank Fureher-Budweiser, Kasser Laird Imports, Majestic Wines, Southern Wine and Spirits, Wine Bow, Capitol Wine & Spirits and Vintage Imports.

Everyone who attends the event will have an opportunity to sample gourmet foods and upscale beverages while enjoying entertainment provided by the Undertones Quartet, a Greensburg group, and Magic By Bill, an act performed by a magician.

“Guests get to walk around and do some tasting,” Carei said. “They can visit 14 restaurants, and each restaurant makes a specialty dish or something they want to try out on the public. It’s a unique opportunity for people to sample food at 14 restaurants in one night. It’s mainly a chance for the chefs and the restaurants to show off something different or extravagant to the public.”

In the past, Carei said as many as 200 to 300 guests have attended the event, which has been held for about 18 years. But he said this year’s attendance could be even higher because organizers slashed ticket prices in an effort to draw a larger crowd.

“The event had been held in the fall, but we decided to change the date and drop the price because we’re trying to attract some new people,” he said. “We want the same people to come back, but we want to expand the event as much as we can, so we can raise more money for the scholarship program and help more culinary students.”

Carei is in the process of planning his culinary creations for this year’s event. Although he hasn’t selected a main dish for the event, he plans to prepare a crème brulee, a French dish, which means “burnt cream,” for dessert. He described it as a “custard with burned sugar on top.”

Last year, Carei prepared Monchong, a Hawaiian fish topped with a citrus bueree blanc, which he says simply means “white wine butter.”

“You take a simple white fish and put a professional chef behind it, and someone who has been in the business for the past 22 years, and you create a better product and something that really impresses the crowd,” he said. “I’m kind of checking out the chicken market right now to see what’s really popular this year, and I could decide to create an elegant chicken dish. But I’m still thinking about it.”

At this year’s event, the scholarship committee will award several new scholarships. The recipients will be invited to participate and receive their scholarships that night. This year’s recipients include Stacey Stamm of Laurel Highlands School District, Amanda Zorosak of Westmoreland County Community College, Benjamin D’Amico of Monongahela, Nathan Piccolomini of Uniontown, Jennifer Davis of Mount Pleasant, Jonathon Stofan of Belle Vernon.

Kathryn Scott of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Craig Coldren of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Carei said the event will feature live chef auctions. The chefs will prepare dinner for four at their restaurant or in someone’s home for the winners. A Chinese auction will also be featured.

“I usually volunteer for the live chef auctions,” he said. “Most of the chefs do volunteer their services because it’s a great way to raise even more money for the scholarship program, and the chefs realize that it’s a great cause.”

Tickets for the event are available at member restaurants or by calling Wendy Allen at 724-329-5508, Carei at 724-437-WINE (9453) or the Nemacolin Woodlands resort at 724-329-8555.