I got a Living Social voucher for Taste of Pace.
Because I am a vegetarian, I could only do the vegetarian class. I also have a busy work schedule, I cannot attend the weekday classes. With both of these prerq's, I bought the voucher since the vegetarian class is on a Saturday.
Well---the vegetarian cooking class changed to a Tuesday, and I hadn't used my voucher.
I emailed Taste of Pace, and they recommended the Farmer's Market class, which focuses on produce, and just so happened to be mostly vegetarian.
Altogether, it worked out. I loved the class. The fact that it is not really recipe based is great! This really allows you to be able to use what you learn in the kitchen frequently, such as how to chop an onion properly, how to hold something as to not cut your fingers when cutting, how to pick items at a farmer's market, etc.
The menu was great -- I loved all the dishes. We made a shortcake, savory tart, soup, salad, pasta, and a quinoa dish. The instructor informed us you can make these dishes with anything! Depending on the season, these dishes are flexible, based on what you can get at the farmer's market.
The kitchen the cooking class was held in was quite unique! Though in a shabby ("industrial" is what they call it) area, the unit was impressive with beautiful decor (though it seemed like it was a work in process) and exposed brick and huge metal pipe running across roof of room. A very modern look.
The only negative things--
- It is difficult to get in touch with Taste of Pace via email and phone. Do not expect a quick response
- Taste of Pace employees are not in sync with instrcutors (I was told menu was vegetarian, but a few items had chicken stalk and easily could have been done with vegetable stalk)
- Not flexible with vouchers
- Difficult to book a class using a voucher online
- Little instruction while making dishes (completely hands on for students), but maybe more direction of where to go with the dishes
Updated to reflect following class I attended:
- Using utensils and kitchen tools that fell on the floor
- No state of the art equipment, in fact it's exact opposite--old and not functionable
- Staff is not personable
- They are never in communication with each other and don't seem prepared in advance (i.e. instructor said no meat items and there were)
- Wasted 20 minutes trying to get a non functionable item to work
- Is there a reason the assistant was making our dish for us?
- Assistant flaring hot oil
- Hair on plating dish
Not to mention, it's been three weeks since my first class, and I still haven't received the recipes I've been requesting for weeks!
Granted, half these reasons have to do with the Living Social deal, so if you're booking without a voucher, you'll be good to go. Unfortunately, I do not think I would pay $85 for this cooking class. read more