10 Years of TasteBuds and Friendship: Meet Chef Dominique and Sous Chef Julia
For the past decade, Best Buddies in Pittsburgh has united some of the city’s most talented chefs with inspiring individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) for an unforgettable evening celebrating food, friendship, and inclusion. This year, we’re proudly celebrating 10 years of our TasteBuds program and making this milestone event bigger and better than ever.
At the heart of TasteBuds is a unique partnership: each participating chef is paired with a Best Buddies sous chef to create and serve a signature dish. These meaningful collaborations highlight what TasteBuds is all about, using great food to bring people together and fostering friendships that extend well beyond the kitchen.
As our chef pairs spend their final weeks selecting ingredients and perfecting their dishes together, we are highlighting a duo matched for 10 years whose friendship spans much more than the one night of celebration our guests get to see.
Meet Chef Dominique Metcalfe, Executive Chef at Levy Restaurants, the exclusive caterer of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, and her TasteBuds Sous Chef Julia Kaluzny, longtime Best Buddies participant and Ambassador. Each year, Dominique’s and Julia’s chef station is one you cannot miss – complete with a chosen theme with décor and a dish to match – and of course Julia’s fabulous outfits. Some favorites have been a Parisian theme with French onion soup bites, Polish Pallela, and a Hollywood theme complete with a red carpet.
But this relationship is about far more than the delicious dishes shared each year – it’s about the genuine love and care between two individuals who might not have crossed paths otherwise. They enjoy going to the movies, cheering at hockey games, and have an annual Christmas sleepover. Chef Dominique gave us a taste of what her friendship with Julia means:
“Julia calls me ‘Mamaseeta’… We have just become so close and we both feel so comfortable around each other! Although we don’t have any windows in our 12k square foot kitchen, Julia is like the sunshine that brightens our day!”
Julia and Chef Dominique consider each other family – Julia sharing that she feels the love year-round,
“I know she’s just a phone call away if I need her. I know we will continue to be friends forever because we love other so much. I’m so thankful that we found each through Tastebuds and are a blessing to each other lives.”
Chef Dominique and Julia will be sharing this year’s creation alongside more than 30 other chef pairs on Monday, December 7th. We’ll leave it to Julia, who describes the event best:
“TasteBuds brings people together and creates lasting friendships. The people, businesses and chefs are making a difference in the lives of people like me. TasteBuds is a magical night for everyone.”
