Chef-owner John Rivers and Chef Whitney Miller of The COOP, a Winter Park neighborhood restaurant, introduced “A Southern Affair,” a new cooking demonstration series that launched on March 16. For this series guests are invited to a demo hosted by Rivers, Miller and/or a visiting guest featuring an easy-to-make, Southern-inspired recipe, followed by a sampling of the dish and an open format question and answer session on The COOP’s indoor patio. The interactive and intimate experience offers the unique opportunity for guests to learn from and sample dishes with award-winning chefs from near and far. The first event of the series kicked off last month with Crawfish-Pimento Mac n’ Cheese and White Chocolate Bread Pudding Beignets.
Every Wednesday, 30 to 40 guests are invited to a demo hosted by Rivers, Miller and/or a visiting guest featuring an easy-to-make, Southern-inspired recipe, followed by a sampling of the dish and an open format question and answer session on The COOP’s indoor patio. The interactive and intimate experience is set to take place on the third Wednesday of every month and will offer the unique opportunity for guests to learn from and sample dishes with award-winning chefs from near and far.
The two will kick off the first event of the series with Crawfish-Pimento Mac n’ Cheese and White Chocolate Bread Pudding Beignets. 
Chef John Rivers helping out with the Crawfish Mac N’ Cheese.
Then both Chefs got their hands dirty for the white chocolate bread pudding beignets.
At the end of each demo we got a little sample of each to know what it tastes like for when we cook it at home. The Mac N’ Cheese were creamy with a bit of a kick.
The beignets were crispy out the outside and fluffy and sweet towards the core.
Overall the event was quite informational and fun as we got to learn how to make the tasty dishes while also interacting with the Chefs.
I’m excited for the next live demonstration happening on April 27th with Chef Greg Richie of Soco Thornton Park! Richie will join Chef John Rivers and Chef Whitney Miller for a cooking demo and tasting of some Southern favorites.
Here’s a little clip of how the event went!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxUhlvg-Brk
