Tag Archives: Red Robin

Chef Malia

Malia at her interview!

Recently I got the awesome opportunity to attend Red Robin’s Kids Cook Off Finale in Denver, Colorado! One of the big reasons I got the opportunity to attend is because we had a finalist from Fresno, California! This year Red Robin had a local blogger accompany each finalist.

Malia a sweet 7 year old little girl (same age as my NerdPie) who is just a rock star! I have already told you about this worldly girl and her international travels! She is showed up ready to play! She had an awesome burger, her speech memorized and a smile to melt all hearts!


After checking into the hotel Malia was off to the kitchen to practice making her burger! For the competition the finalists made their burger in front of everyone for the judges.

The Red Robin crew had all her materials prepped. They made sure that all the materials were right and that she was ready to put it together all by herself. Then they showed her the Red Robin way to wrap a burger. Did you know those little papers are called diapers?

There is Malia’s burger! Her Tropical Hawaiian Turkey Burger was so good! The part that I found most impressive was that the mango onion relish recipe was developed by her and her mom! Nothing out of a bottle there! For the competition the next day she made her burger for an esteemed panel of judges including a producer from Food Network!

Red Robin treated the kids so well and went all out! They had an AP photographer come in to take press pictures of the kids and it was such a kick to see her get interviewed just like on the red carpet! While she didn’t win, I think Malia really enjoyed the royal treatment! I am sure that this has been an experience that she will never forget!

If you want to read about the other finalists or get the cookbook with all the recipes (plus a few more) just hop over to Red Robin’s Kids Cook Off site! The winning burger (Donovan’s Mt. Vesuvius Burger) will be on sale later in 2011 with a portion of all the sales going to benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children! Even though I really wanted Malia to win, I must say that Donovan’s burger but more on that later;)!

The Start of an Adventure

For those of you who don’t read my twitter (and why don’t you?), I am in Colorado right now as a blogger correspondent for the Red Robin Kids Cook-Off. They asked me to come as a Fresno blogger because one of the finalists is from Fresno! I got the opportunity to meet Malia and her parents in our travels to Colorado.

She is just adorable! She is a sweet 7 year old girl who has already lived quite the worldly life! She was born in Germany while her father was stationed there and she also got the opportunity to live in Japan during her kindergarten year. I look forward to seeing her make her burger (and getting to try it;).

And Red Robin…. They have been awesome! They have me set up in a gorgeous hotel and later I will upload the gift pack that was waiting for me;).

Post more later!