2020 - Visiting chef and ECC alum Bridget Mooney brings Chicago flavor to ECC campus restaurant

Visiting chef Bridget Mooney will bring her Soldier Field specialties to campus on Thursday, March 5, at 6 p.m. at the Elgin Community College Spartan Terrace Restaurant located in Building I, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

Visiting chefs work side by side with ECC Culinary Arts and Hospitality students to prepare a special, four-course evening meal with two wine pairings. The menu starts with Chicago-style beef tartare and a quinoa tabbouleh salad. Red wine braised short rib, with horseradish whipped potatoes, roasted asparagus and tomatoes, and gremolata make up the main course. The evening finishes with a flourless chocolate cake.

Chef Mooney graduated from ECC with an associate degree in culinary management, culinary arts with high honors. She interned with Delaware North Companies at Soldier Field, and when Aramark acquired the field, she was hired on as the suites cold supervisor. Currently, Mooney is the executive sous chef at Soldier Field, running concessions and premium clubs. 

Chef Mooney has traveled extensively for events, including the Super Bowl, the Final Four, Vikings games in Minneapolis, Kansas City Royals home opener, and to Microsoft in Seattle.

Beyond her tenure with Aramark, Mooney has competed in Culinary Fight Club and won four battles, including "Bacon Throwdown" and "Sip and Bite." She placed 15th in the World Food Championships Bacon Category in 2016. Most recently, she won the Central Region Aramark Culinary Excellence Competition and received a Bronze American Culinary Federation medal.

Reservations are $60 per person and available by calling the ECC Arts Center Box Office at 847-622-0300 or online at tickets.elgin.edu. The deadline to purchase tickets is Thursday, February 27.

For more information about Spartan Terrace Restaurant, visit elgin.edu/spartanterrace. Special thanks to this evening’s donors, Edward Don and SYSCO Chicago.