Photo By Spc. Nadine White | Joint Task Force Guantanamo Soldiers were served Baltimore-style crab cake sliders by...... read more read more
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GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - A common conversation topic amongst troopers in either deployment or duty station environments is food. For example, what food they miss from home, what meal their mama used to make them on various special occasions, what chain restaurant is native to their home state that they just can’t wait to get back to, are some of the more popular discussions.
Food is something we undeniably all have in common, and it’s safe to assume that everyone has at least one “comfort food” they wish they could have while confined to this 45-square mile section of Cuba. For those native to the San Diego area of California and the Fell’s Point region of Baltimore, a little taste of home was brought here, during the NEX/MWR 13th Annual Customer Appreciation Weekend.
Navy Entertainment with the help of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s MWR, organized an invitation-only, picnic-style meal for service members, island residents and their families at the Bayview restaurant on Sunday.
Two celebrity chefs, well known for being featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” Mike “Bossman” Hardin and Sarah Simington, each cooked up unique and popular dishes as a “thank you” to troopers stationed here.
“It is an honor to come and visit you guys!” said Hardin, the owner of Hodad’s, an eclectic, fun-loving burger joint established in Ocean Beach, California. “I like to thank you all for fighting for our freedom. It’s because of your service that I’m able to do what I want every day!”
Hardin, the culinary mastermind behind the two delicious burgers served on Sunday - the Hodad’s classic cheeseburger and the award-winning “Guido burger,” a unique burger topped with pastrami, Swiss cheese and grilled onions – has visited GTMO five times, and says that serving food to service members, here specifically, is something he loves.
“I love being able to go home and tell people about what this place is really like,” said Hardin. “People have such a huge misconception about the happenings here. I like to go back and share what GTMO really is.”
Along with Hardin’s Hodad’s burgers, guests were served crab cake sliders with lemon and dill aioli and a spicy fruit salsa by the creative and spunky Simington, the owner of the Blue Moon Café in Maryland. Fried chicken and waffles were also served.
“I haven’t had great food like that in a while,” said Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Honeycutt, a corpsman with Joint Task Force Guantanamo. “It was comfort food, it comforted my stomach.”
The food and fun atmosphere complete with musician John Taglieri singing and playing guitar, truly expressed the gratitude the NEX and MWR have for their customers.
“Food makes people happy,” said Honeycutt. “It picks their spirits up, makes them feel special.”
| Date Taken: | 10.10.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.10.2014 10:35 |
| Story ID: | 144852 |
| Location: | GUANTANAMO BAY , CU |
| Web Views: | 48 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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