Cooking Class for One with Meal Groupon Voucher/Redemption Code purchased last year, and had some issues getting it to work on their website to sign up for a class early this year before it expired. I emailed per their FAQs and got a reply within 5 days with a customized code that did work successfully. The Groupon cost me $32 and gave a $150 discount, except for a $8 service fee per person. Full cost of the class is $158.00 before Groupon.
Small parking lot but additional in the back. These classes do tend to sell out/waitlist far in advance, but their calendar does seem to have a lot of different international cuisines (Chinese, French, Italian, Russian, Pizza-Making, Indian, Hungarian, Moroccan, Mexican, Vegetarian, Thai, Cajun, Austrian, etc.).
Goodfellas movie theme/tie-in menu (Italian), Cooking with the Movies Series. This was playing on one of the screens during dinner. Other "Cooking with the Movies" films include From Russia With Love, Casablanca, Coco, The Sopranos, The Untouchables, Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Garfield, Ratatouille, Beauty & The Beast, Lady & The Tramp, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mulan, Sound of Music.
Menu:
3- courses: pasta e fagioli, meatballs and sauce with spaghetti and garlic roll, and orange zest cannoli (ricotta).
Bring your own apron, otherwise $5, bring your own Tupperware for leftovers. No outside food or drink except birthday cake.
Checked in with chef Marc at the front. There were 25-30 people in the class total.
Restrooms in the main dining area were 2 stalls per gender, 2 sinks. When needing to wash hands there were these restrooms, a small sink in the demo area, and the actual kitchen.
Class was scheduled for 4:00 PM, but started late. Water carafes complimentary, and two other staff/students provided drink menus if you wanted to order any alcohol or other beverages. They also gave samples of their Persian 7000 corn vodka out of Missouri (110 proof, 55% ABV). Bottles for purchase.
Chef Sara took orders for desserts (take-home) that were also available for purchase ($10-$12), such as slices of cheesecake, limoncello, tiramisu, Napoleon, or cannoli (marscapone).
Chef Hassim began with introductions/history about the nonprofit academy and cafe, and students in their culinary arts/hospitality diploma program for high school graduates (also junior/youth, young adult, scholarships for low-income or at-risk kids). He then did a live demonstration of each dish, with a headset microphone and a camera capturing onscreen a birds-eye view of the action. He did call on people to help assist (1-2 per dish). The soup was cooked to completion on the single burner, while the meatballs were assembled and added to the stock but finished in the big kitchen. The cannoli shells were already made but the demo was filling the pastry bag with the orange ricotta and piping onto the plate. We got to sample the soup and garlic roll before starting the real thing.
After the demos/tips regarding cooking oil, internal temperature for the beef, etc., the big group was split into three teams (red, green, and blue) with 8-10 people each. Within the team, we were self-assigned to different stations: the soup, the meatballs, or the desserts. #BlueTeam
This part was very crowded/cramped. Desserts were being made out in the demo area, but in the kitchen layout, we didn't have much counter space room for making the meatballs. We had two burners for the soup and meatball sauce but were right up next to the green team (red was across from us). Behind us were the shelf of seasonings, ladles, taste testing spoons, etc. Very tight. Gloves provided for volunteer helpers making the meatballs during the demo but not in the kitchen, but everyone washed hands. I didn't get any photos inside the kitchen mainly because of the clean hands and I was on meatball station.
The kitchen staff did the actual plating and pasta, garnish, croutons, garlic roll, etc. and each course was served team by team on carts, plates cleared between courses by staff.
Each team got to eat what they prepared, although the amount of actual hands-on in the kitchen was limited by number of people and what was already pre-made. The soup was filling, and I only finished half of my spaghetti and meatballs. The cannoli was also nice. Took home the tiramisu and leftover pasta. The tiramisu and other desserts were all primarily made by Chef Sara; the tiramisu was very good.
Chef Hassim gave us all a promo code to use for 50% our next class. There were a few people in my class that had been there before, more than once, but a majority were first-timers. We were done by around 7:30ish PM, with the late start, so if you weren't planning on more than 3 hours at class, be aware.
If you purchase any drinks on tab or desserts to go, you can tip there with card, otherwise they did have a collection bowl for cash tips too. Overall it was a fun, easy activity in a group setting, and the food was good. read more