Restaurant Row

75 weeks down, 11.5 to go. We're in the final stretch now, with graduation quickly approaching in June. Woo hoo! For culinary students, these last 12 weeks are spent in Restaurant Row, the highly anticipated/grueling/terrifying/highly exciting (? not really sure yet!) kitchen and front of house classes. There are four public restaurants on campus, plus the Apple Pie Bakery Cafe (run by the baking and pastry students). St. Andrews and Caterina de'Medici are the more casual of the four. Everyone spends seven days in each kitchen, and one block (three weeks/14 days) front of house in the restaurant of their choice. Then, we spend one block in the kitchen of either Escoffier or American Bounty, again of our choice. Both of these restaurants are quite sophisticated and upscale, with food to match. The very last class is front of house Escoffier or Bounty.

I am currently in Caterina (lunch), working the cold appetizer station. I'm in charge of four different salads, plus a warm savory onion tart. All nice dishes, albeit simple. But our prep time is fairly short, and we can do up to 70 or 80 or more covers (customers) per service. It's definitely taking a few days for me to get back into the swing of restaurant service - very different from how the kitchens normally work for most classes. I think it'll start being fun in just a day or two!