Champion Hills Chef Caroline Juba’s Recipe for Success: Passion, Innovation, and Community
In mid-July, Clubhouse Manager Patrick Necessary approached the Champion Hills Golf Club kitchen staff about entering the 2024 Culinary Innovation Challenge, a nationwide recipe contest.
The invitation caught the attention of Caroline Juba, the private club’s saucier. She accepted the challenge of creating a recipe requiring creativity, diverse ingredients, and precise cooking techniques.
Two years after graduating from culinary school, her passion for food and creativity quickly made her a valuable member of the Champion Hills family. Those traits were at the heart of her desire to participate in the contest.
While attending a funeral, Juba brainstormed ideas on her iPad. Her recipe developed into a lentil-stuffed mushroom with tomato romesco and arugula oil—a vegan dish inspired by her sister and her work at Curate, a Spanish tapas restaurant in Asheville.
Juba submitted her recipe, photos, and necessary paperwork just an hour before the July 31 deadline.
After Juba submitted her recipe an hour before the July 31 deadline, she mostly forgot about it. That changed when Necessary called her out in front of the house lineup. He informed the Champion Hills team that Juba had won against entries from the entire Troon network and would be representing Entegra.
A Trip to Texas
The journey to Frisco, Texas, for the finals at the 500-room Omni PGA Frisco Resort on September 25 was a whirlwind. Juba received VIP treatment as she prepared for her 45-minute cooking competition against Jon Dubrick, an executive chef from a test kitchen in Los Angeles.
Once a reserved public speaker, Juba confidently interacted with the judges, including Iron Chef Jose Garces, as she prepared her dish until the buzzer. Dubrick, who made maple-miso glazed sweet potatoes with beluga lentils and minted yogurt, was ultimately declared the winner in a close decision. However, finishing as the runner-up did not diminish Juba’s experience.
Although she enjoyed her time in the Lone Star State, Hurricane Helene was approaching the Asheville region. She returned to her apartment in the mountains hours before the worst once-in-a-millennium storm struck the area.
Back to Serve the Community
Instead of celebrating the peak of her still young professional career, Juba shifted her focus to helping her neighbors. When the rain stopped, she used a community grill to prepare food for residents of six nearby apartment complexes as everyone came together.
When the roads allowed, she returned to Champion Hills.
“I had no idea what was happening, so I showed up in my chef coat and got to work,” Juba recalled.
Along with the other staff members who were able to reach the club, she hit the ground running as nearly 200 people attended a community dinner that showcased Champion Hills at its finest.
During those harried days, they improvised on the fly, cooking whatever was available and using food to provide comfort in the most challenging circumstances.
The aftermath of the storm emphasized Juba’s passion for cooking, showcasing its role in uniting people regardless of circumstances, even more than its being a finalist in the Culinary Innovation Challenge.
“People were so gracious and thankful,” Juba said of the dinners she helped prepare in the aftermath of Helene. “It was really nice to see because that was definitely one of the biggest things with this storm is the sense of community (it fostered).”
Whether members of Champion Hills are pulling together in the face of a natural disaster or enjoying a round of golf on the award-winning Tom Fazio-designed course, the club’s spirit of togetherness makes it unique.
