Nearly 300 people were on hand at Park View Middle School Monday night as Cranston Police Department Capt. Vincent McAteer III showed off his culinary skills, just in time for the upcoming Super Bowl on Feb. 7. On the menu was his signature dish, “Captain Vin’s Super Bowl Nachos.”

Sponsored by COZ for the past 20 years with a different guest chef each year, the parent-and-child cooking event always draws a crowd, and this year was no different, despite the New England Patriots’ heartbreaking loss over the weekend.

“We’re still very excited about the Super Bowl, no matter which team you do or don’t support, because it’s a family event. Everyone gets together to celebrate, you watch the television commercials, and you get to eat great snacks,” said COZ’s Grace Swinski as she welcomed guests and introduced McAteer.

McAteer, a 20-year veteran of the police force as of March 2016, explained his position at the police department.

“The Office of Community Outreach started out as an idea to get the entire police department to work with our community-policing philosophy,” he said. “We have one position to coordinate the efforts of the department, and that is my position. I help get officers connected with people who specifically have needs within their community and I also connect with social services to help with those needs.”

McAteer also let the families know that there are police officers on hand at the schools as well.

“There are four officers in the department who are the school resource officers. At the elementary level we have Rob Arruda, at the middle level we have Kevin Denneny and Matt Davis, and at the high school level we have Derek DiMaio. They’re hard workers, and they never miss a day of school,” he said.

For his cooking demonstration, McAteer called on the students for volunteers, asking them to call out what number the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski wears. Jay Medina, a sixth-grader from Garden City School, answered correctly, giving McAteer a fist bump on his way up.

Together the two demonstrated the step-by-step instructions for creating McAteer’s signature nacho dish for the Super Bowl, which he noted was not healthy in any way, other than the fact that it contained both chicken and black beans, which are high in protein, and guacamole. He called on his next volunteer by asking the students to raise their hands if they knew what was used to make guacamole. Kalliana Marek’s correct answer of avocado got her a starring role in the demonstration as well. Marek is a fifth-grader at Eden Park Elementary School and said she had a fun time cooking with McAteer.

“This is a mean plate of Super Bowl nachos, don’t you think?” McAteer asked as he showed off his finished dish, complete with multiple layers of several types of cheese and topped with a hefty portion of salsa.

As the three finished off their demonstration, McAteer and Swinski pulled out a raffle prize of $25 to Dunkin’ Donuts, donated by the PTG at Gladstone School, and invited the audience to join them in the cafeteria for samples of the dish.

On the way out, COZ staff and volunteers were on hand to hand out several party favors, including a choice of one of two cookbooks for the kids donated by First Book – “Delicious Disney Just for Kids” and “The Real Girl’s Kitchen” by Haylie Duff – a football desk display clip for the parents, as well as a sample bottle of Hyland’s homeopathic 4Kids Cold and Cough syrup, just in time for cold and flu season.

Before he left, McAteer told the guests to enjoy the upcoming Super Bowl game, have fun, and let him know what types of foods they eat when they’re watching the game, noting that he might just try cooking something new for his family if their dishes inspire him.

“We had a great turnout for this event,” Swinski said. “Captain McAteer did a great job.”