Local fifth grader's burger places 3rd in Red Robin contest

By Christy Barritt

Correspondent

This December, Adley Piccolo got all of his favorite things - on top of a hamburger.

Adley, a fifth-grader at Butts Road Intermediate School, competed in Red Robin's third annual The Next Gourmet Burger Kid's Recipe Contest. Out of the 14,000 recipes submitted by children age 6-12, Adley's burger made it into the top 10 finalists. He walked away as the third runner-up in the national competition.

Adley's recipe was for the Fireside Burger, which features a blackened hamburger, a bun toasted with garlic butter, Red Robin's campfire sauce, an onion ring with fresh salsa in the middle and pepper jack cheese.

Adley said he came up with the idea after reading about the contest while eating at Red Robin, one of his favorite restaurants.

"I was born in Louisiana so I like my food spicy," said Adley, who lives in Hickory. "I put all of my favorite Red Robin items on my burger."

The first time the family made the hamburger, Adley said, he was impressed... except for one thing.

"It turned out pretty well except for all the smoke," he said.

"When you blacken food, it can smoke," said Lina, Adley's mother. "There was a lot of smoke. After that, we've just been grilling it. The burgers are better blackened, but it's easier to grill."

Lina's family is from the New Orleans area, and they all love Cajun food, which was one of Adley's influences.

The championship cook-off was held at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Colorado in Denver Dec. 4-5. Adley, his parents Lina and Mike, along with sister Lauren, all flew out for the competition.

"The reception was unbelievable," said Lina, a substitute teacher for Cheapeake Public Schools. "What I'll always remember is that, as soon as we opened the door, people went, 'That's the hockey player.' They knew who Adley was. I was very impressed with that."

As part of the contest, the family had to send in a profile of Adley, along with a picture. His profile mentioned he plays hockey with the Twisters, a team that practices at Chilled Ponds in Greenbrier.

While at the cook-off, Adley assembled his burger for a panel of six judges and presented a short speech about his creation.

Adley's burger was well-received. His prize was an iPod and $400. He's also been featured at local Red Robin restaurants.

The winning recipe for the contest was for the Holy-Peno Burger, which will be featured in Red Robin restaurants this summer. A portion of the sales from the Holy-Peno Burger will be donated to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to support its child-safety initiatives.

Adley said he enjoyed meeting the other finalists at the cook-off and that everyone's burgers looked tasty. One that particularly caught his attention was the Boston Ballpark Burger, a burger topped with a hot dog, chips and nachos.

"There were a lot of interesting ideas," said Lina.

The 10 finalists' gourmet burger recipes, along with 40 other kid-invented burger recipes submitted through the contest, will be included in a cookbook available for free download this summer at www.redrobin.com.

Christy Barritt, 651-6166,

christybarritt@cox.net