Re: chefs

David knows best because he's been there. But...

There are two junior colleges I am aware of in California that have chef prep schools and restaurants. One of the schools is Delta Community College in Stockton [I took some computer courses at Delta and ate in the restaurant whenever my schedule jibed]. At least one of its graduates, David Smith, opened a fantastic restaurant in Stockton. Maybe the best rack of lamb I ever had.

The other school is in, I believe, Columbia. Up in the Sierra foothills. The school has not only a restaurant, but an inn. It also has an exemption from the state's alcohol server legal requirement that says waitpersons PC for waiter] must be 21 to serve wine. Teens can serve wine in this school's restaurant.

I had one of the best five or ten meals of my life there. Even as I was having a major marital discombobulation with wife number two, the beef Wellington was fantastic. [She thought so, too, incidentally.]


On Thursday, May 20, 2004, at 02:14 PM, David Franzman wrote:

Melody, the restaurant business is another one of those of the haves and
have nots. If you have noticed the cost of going to lunch has changed very
little in 20 years or so and wages have remained pretty stagnant as well.
The quickest way to the top of the food chain is through one of the elite
(and very expensive) schools such as the Cordon Bleu in NY or the California
Culinary Academy in SF. I'm sure you have some in the Midwest but these are
the cream of the crop. The students do the assigned work for the prescribed
amount of time, a year and a half I believe, and then do years apprenticing
behind top chefs in the field. Hopefully if the pupil is creative and is
willing to work 10-12 hours a day six days a week they will make a name for
themselves and then break loose and be offered a restaurant that they will
then be top dog.


Island Jim
Southwest Florida
Zone 10
27.0 N, 82.4 W

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