Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of dining in my old culinary school’s cafe with the head of the program, Chef Mike McGreal. My old culinary school is small, but thriving and I was stoked to get a chance to taste all the goods. First, and most important: the food.
The cafe at JJC Culinary school is run completely by the second year students. These students make everything from scratch and rotate through every position you would find in a normal cafe: entree chef, sandwich chef, pastry chef, baker, butcher, and wait staff. They offer what I consider to be good lunch fare, especially considering the area. This was a nice touch with the homemade bread basket–the assortment of spreads to put on them.
I tried the pizza special of the day, the Alsace pizza, which had a white sauce as the base, and I believe prosciutto. They make the pizza dough from scratch, pre-bake it in a giant rotating bread oven, then finish it off the oven just before service. I really enjoyed this dish.
After lunch, Chef McGreal gave a fellow alum and I a tour of the school to see how it had changed. I was impressed and a bit pissed that the demo room got a makeover with FLAT SCREEN TVS!!! Of course, all after I had graduated.
There are display cases in the hallways to show off what talented students have created over the years.
It was a great trip back to see my culinary school. Chef McGreal revealed that they recently received a HUGE donation to completely rebuild the culinary school, and his goal is to make it the first entirely green culinary school in the country! If you’d like more info on the JJC Culinary Arts program, check out their web site here. ~LTG! **********************************************
