The service and ambiance is excellent! The food is great, but some didn't stay as hot on the buffet…read more line.

Cafe Culinaire is easily one of the hardest places to get into in Bellingham, but it's totally…read moreworth the effort and the wait. This international buffet is operated by BTC's Culinary Arts Program, and its limited hours and small size make it almost impossible to actually experience. In fact, I've only done so twice myself (and I've lived here for almost 20 years). Each week, the Culinary Arts team creates a new menu and runs Cafe Culinaire like a fine dining establishment for prices that your grandparents probably paid for a 5-star meal back when they were in their dating years. In other words, not only is the food good here, it's amazingly affordable. They aren't open during the summer, by the way, so keep your eye on their website for their next opening date and clear your schedule - 'cuz Cafe Culinaire waits for no one!

Victoria is a master cook and teaches in a very hands on method. Her commercial stove serves as a…read morecenter point next to her large butcher block island. Each student gets her recipes, a pencil for notes and an apron. She explains and then guides you through the preparations. Participation is expected but not required. When ready we move on to the huge stove where we cook the main dish. She usually adds an accompanying side dish with possibly a sauce. The finale is we all sit at her extra large table and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Each student can get direct supervision if the need arises, or asked for.

Victoria is a great teacher of all types of cooking. I have taken the Ramen Noodle class and Dry…read moreRub for meats. Both were loads of fun and left the attendees with a new set of knowledge and skills. I will be signing up for more!

I had a staff team building with Lindy. It was a great afternoon. The recipes were challenging…read moreenough to have everyone work together. The food was fabulous and she was an amazing hostess. Her dining room was set to perfection. She allowed us to linger. I would highly recomend this as a special treat.

She was fantastic and welcoming to our group that came in! She had everything set out for us to…read moreuse (and those things she didn't, she quickly retrieved). At the end of the meal, she took our plates and did all the dishes! This was a great event for our group.

Chef Laura and her Staff made sure our two Dinner Parties were well provisioned with two delicious…read moreWest Coast menus that our Family of 8 enjoyed immensely. Having the Good For You Gourmet Team take care of these meals for us during our vacation in Victoria allowed for more quality family time together, outdoor explorations, games together and relaxing in our vacation home, knowing that we would all be well fed these two nights. We were so happy we could arrange this!Thanks so much Chef Laura, Allison and Ananda.

My father is on a strict kidney dialysis diet and has a few other dietary complications that need…read moreto be carefully managed. In brief, my father is not the easiest to cook for. Every month for the past three years, Chef Laura has arrived at our house armed with groceries. By the time she leaves, the house smells amazing, the kitchen is spotless and the fridge and freezer are filled to the brim with wonderful meals. Chef Laura is attentive and diligent to every detail and accommodates my father's often changing and special diet requirements with grace and ease. Three years on, my father continues to eat wonderful nutritious food that meets his special dietary needs - and he refuses to eat anything but Chef Laura meals! The peace of mind that my family gets from knowing that my father is eating extremely well despite his health challenges is hard to convey. Everyone needs Chef Laura in their lives!

Great selection of rare gourmet products. Tools and services. Cooking class are awesome as well.read more

Been going for years and it just keeps getting better. Classes, books, products... Just so awesome…read more I love how involved in the community they are and the whole "buy local" movement is alive in this shop. Staff is also super helpful and friendly! Definitely worth a Saturday adventure, long stroll, and a flexing of the credit card! Good for: Gifts People who like to cook People who like to eat Bad for: Your wallet.

Came here for a team event. After a heavy day of fiery debate and hacking, I wasn't sure if I was…read morein the mood for more feverish competitive activity with the same people but I was quite wrong and a good time was had! Just make sure you save some patience for figuring out the parking, especially in the summer days when you have to dodge kids in swimsuits. The event we did was essentially an Iron Chef-style competition, but we first had a happy hour of charcuterie cheese and fruit and an open bar (although the line for cocktails was a bit backlogged). We were divided into two groups with an assigned chef each to coach us through a 90 minute cooking session to come up with a meal plan consisting of our designated protein (my team got Salmon and the other team got chicken), 2 vegetarian sides, and a dessert. We had nearly access to a seemingly infinite amount ingredients to work with, but not all! Some ingredients even came from the garden outside but mostly the pantry is well stocked with so many different herbs, spices, cheeses, sauces, etc. Not to mention all kinds of kitchen equipment. We feared 90 minutes wouldn't be enough but it seemed to be just enough time without feeling too harried to brainstorm and come up with a plan, split up and prepare various dishes, plate for the judge as well as each other (to eat buffet style after the presentation). Each group selected a presenter to talk through the dishes and then we went to the main dining area to partake in each others' creations - with more drinks! The staff who judged the dishes had a lot of goodness to say about all the creations and the winning team got bragging rights and a blue mug. We dined right on Lake Union by huge windows such that it felt like the event turned into a fancy dinner cruise from there. All in all it was a great event and a great opportunity to connect.

My 13 year old daughter did a week of summer camp here and LOVED IT. She's pretty shy and tends to…read moreget anxious about trying new things, so I was worried that she wouldn't like the cooking camp but I was blown away at 1) the fun she had every single day, 2) the skills and concepts that were taught to her in a way that kids could comprehend, and 3) the dishes she made. The summer camps are a little pricey but I think was worth it, because the kids not only get to cook and eat good food but they also went home with their own apron, knife, and digital recipe book! My daughter now has more passion and confidence to cook independently. Highly recommend!

I hosted our leadership team's very first offsite in Vancouver and I was on the hunt for an evening…read moreteam-building activity for our group of 13 that felt inclusive, engaging, and genuinely enjoyable for everyone. After a lot of research, The Dirty Apron stood out as the clear winner. I reached out nearly two months in advance only to find they were fully booked on our one available evening. I moved on and kept searching, but about a week later they contacted me to say they had a cancellation. I jumped on it immediately! From start to finish, the process was seamless. They offered a very wide variety of menu options, which made it easy to find choices that accommodated several dietary restrictions and varying preferences across our group. Communication was straightforward and stress-free. Day of, the location was easy to find and they were completely set up and ready when I arrived a few minutes early. The onsite team, Monica, our servers, and our chef were all outstanding. The structure of the experience was perfect for a team event: the chef would teach us one course, we'd break out to make it together, then sit down and eat what we'd just prepared before heading back to learn the next one. The pacing was spot-on. Our chef was engaging, educational, and fun without being over the top. Throughout the evening and through the next day, my entire team raved about the food quality, the hands-on instruction, and the overall atmosphere. After dessert, none of us wanted to leave, even after four full hours together. For a leadership team that had never done an offsite before, this was the ideal bonding experience. Highly, highly recommend The Dirty Apron for corporate team events. We got lucky with that cancellation, and it ended up being the highlight of our trip to Vancouver!

What a great night learning how to prepare and cook in a real hands on atmosphere by a professional…read morechef. We did the Thai class and made shrimp spring rolls, beef satay skewers, and green curry chicken. It was so much fun and it tasted amazing. Our instructor Raf would demonstrate the prep and then the cooking of the dish while we watched him cook and gave tips and teach things like proper cutting technique, to heating the oil correctly and when to add to maximize things like flavour and not to overcook things. Once he finished it was our turn to prepare and cook the dish (while being supervised and given tips and guidance while we cooked)and then when we finished we went and sat in the dining room and got to taste our creation. Each course we did one at a time then ate it and then proceeded to the next course. If you want to learn cooking techniques and some pointers from a real pro and have some fun I highly recommend this. Great for couples, parent& child, friends or on your own to have some fun and prepare a really delicious meal. Class size was 20 people.

I took a one-night cooking (Oshi Sushi) class here for a team building event. We were quickly…read morechecked-in, grabbed our aprons, and walked into the classroom/kitchen area. It's much bigger than it looks from the outside. The classroom/kitchen area was well laid-out, and each area could probably accommodate around 24 attendees at a time. We had a 2 hour class, and the first hour was dedicated to learning understanding what was being made, learning techniques, and a live demonstration on how to make it. The last hour was reserved for attendees to prepare their dishes and eat it. The instructor and helpers were all very friendly. I found some of the pre-made ingredients not optimal - the rice seemed overcooked and a bit mushy, and questioned the use sweet potato for the maki rolls, and use of okonomiyaki to drizzle on sushi. But some ingredients were perfectly good - specifically the fish. This meal included a plum wine/sake cocktail. Overall, I quite enjoyed the class. The 2 hours goes by really quick, but it was informative and fun. At $89, it was very affordable. I'd definitely consider taking another class.

What a fun date night. Went with hubby and made Pad Thai with green papaya salad. It also came with…read morea glass of wine. Will definitely come back again to try the other cooking menus.

Ordered the jerk chicken, veggies, slaw and cucumber tomato sides. TA DIE FOR. Fresh, flavorful and…read morelooks amazing. Just how food should be!

I just had my 60th birthday at Ponderosa Bar and Calypso catered the event…read more I had so many compliments about the food! Sarah, the owner, was very helpful and quick to respond to my numerous questions. I will definitely be a returning customer!

I've been a fan of Marie's Bees for so many years now! Marisa has built an amazing business not…read moreonly selling honey-based products from her own bees, but providing education about the importance of bees. It's always a joy to see her booth set up at a local vendor show or farmer's market. And it's easy to order products from her website if I run out between shows! My favorite to order is one of her creamed honeys (my favorite is the Cinnamon). And at a recent Christmas craft show I bought her Gardener's Wax salve which has been wonderful on my dry skin this winter! I also love to grab a bottle of her fabulous Honey Oxymel as a gift for my mom, who uses it to make lovely salad dressings. I even took a cheese-making class from Marissa once, and hope at some point to have time to do it again! Marie's Bees is a wonderful, local, women-owned, family-owned business that I hope to "bee" able to support for years to come!

I attended a special Yelp cheese making class with Marisa at the Chuckanut Center. What a fun…read moreclass. Marisa is such a great teacher and host. During our class we learned the basics of making mozzarella cheese. Repetition always helps me learn, and in this case we were able to repeat the process a couple of times which really helped me feel confident in home-made cheese making. We learned how to check the process as we worked through to make sure things were progressing as they should. Knowing the steps and how the cheese should be looking was a big help. We learned how adding honey to some cheese varieties can provide an unusual and tasty addition. It was eye-opening to see how much milk makes this much cheese (no wonder cheese can often be expensive!) During our class, we made a couple of batches of farm cheese with fruit and herbs (from the on site garden) as well as a batch of mozzarella (some in balls and some in string cheese form). These are highly interactive classes with lots of opportunities to take part in the process. If you like learning and doing, Marisa's classes are the best!