Photos courtesy of Sweet Carrot, EatLocalOhio and Rachel Joy Barehl
Sweet Carrot's mac and cheese topped with pulled pork, a restaurant staple, won the People's Choice award at Taste of Westerville 2018.
As of mid-February, Westerville residents may spot some new faces – and a lot more mac and cheese – around the community.
On Feb. 19, Sweet Carrot opened its second brick-and-mortar location on Polaris Parkway, and immediately, Sweet Carrot CEO Angela Petro got involved in the Westerville community.
“The brand Sweet Carrot doesn’t exist without strong ties, and it starts internally,” says Petro. “We talk about people, process and profit – people is first and process is last; it’s our most important component.”
Westerville has clearly welcomed Sweet Carrot with open arms. At the Taste of Westerville on May 3, Sweet Carrot was awarded the People’s Choice Award for its mac and cheese dish topped with pulled pork dish, a Sweet Carrot staple. After Petro received word of the win she was, above all, relieved.
“We are new to that area and we know how people feel about us in Grandview, but to know people in Westerville also love the brand – we hadn’t made a mistake opening a new restaurant,” Petro says. “It gave me confidence that people care about Sweet Carrot and love the food. Relief was one (emotion), and the other was pride in our team.”
Still, it was a competition, and Petro says she’s thrilled for her team to take home a win.
“This is me talking – I’m a competitive person. We don’t do anything unless we set out to be the best,” she says. “We do it for the love of our food. The Angela answer is we fight to win.”
At the end of the day, Petro is excited to build a relationship with the community, and Sweet Carrot has already begun initiatives to strengthen ties to Westerville. While working on the Polaris location, Petro says, priority No. 1 was to get it open, No. 2 was to get involved.
“Now that we’re open and we feel confident that we’re operating with excellence, we’re focusing on community fundraisers,” says Petro. “We’ve always done this; 10 percent off to firefighters and police officers – hero’s discount. We’ll also be able to donate a percentage of the (profit from each) meal to the funds we’re working with; police and fire, schools, youth groups; people can begin to look for those.”
The Sweet Carrot team with their People's Choice Award from the Taste of Westerville. From left: Shift Leader Jazmin Sigala, Kitchen Lead Tammie Holman, Kitchen Manager Sarah Roepke, General Manager Brent Nau.
Amanda DePerro is an editor. Feedback welcome at adeperro@cityscenemediagroup.com.
Recipe: Sweet Carrot’s Ohio Chicken Meatballs
Recipe courtesy of Sweet Carrot
Ingredients
Ohio Chicken Meatball Sandwich, smothered with slaw, Sweet Carrot's off-the-hook corn salsa and sesame ginger sauce. Bread and butter pickles on the side.
Meatballs:
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tbsp. bottled teriyaki glaze
- 2 Tbsp. sweet chili sauce (see Cook’s Note)
- 1 lb. ground chicken
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- Salt and black pepper
- 2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. minced fresh cilantro
- 2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. minced green onion
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- Sesame-ginger sauce, for serving. Recipe follows
Sesame-Ginger Sauce:
- 1 1/3 cups sweet chili sauce
- 1 cup bottled teriyaki glaze
- 2 Tbsp. lime juice
- 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp. toasted sesame seeds (see Cook’s Note)
- 1/8 tsp. granulated garlic
- 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
- Salt
Directions
Meatballs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lightly whisk the egg in a medium bowl. Add the teriyaki glaze and sweet chili sauce, and whisk until incorporated.
Place the ground chicken in a large bowl. Add the egg mixture, then sprinkle in the ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a pinch of black pepper. Add the cilantro and green onions. Gently mix together by hand to avoid slopping over the side of the bowl (using kitchen gloves is more sanitary and less freaky). Add the breadcrumbs and gently fold in by hand just until thoroughly incorporated; don’t overmix (see Cook’s Note).
Using a small squeeze-handle scoop (see Cook’s Note), scoop out meatballs and place them on a nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, about 8 minutes.
Serve with warm sesame-ginger sauce as a party snack, an entree or on a sandwich.
Sesame-Ginger Sauce
Add the sweet chili sauce, teriyaki glaze, lime juice, sesame oil, sesame seeds, granulated garlic and ground ginger to a bowl. Blend with a stick blender until thoroughly combined. Add a pinch of salt (if you don’t have a stick blender, whisk aggressively until the ingredients are well blended).
Cook’s Note
You can find sweet chili sauce in the Asian foods section of larger grocery stores or at an Asian grocer.
Don’t overmix the meatball batter after adding the breadcrumbs. An overmixed meatball will be dense rather than light and airy.
A 1/2-ounce scoop for mini meatballs is recommended. If you use a larger scoop, the meatballs will take a bit longer to cook.
If you can’t find toasted sesame seeds and don’t want to toast them yourself, substitute black sesame seeds.
