CulinaryLab Student

As a mother of 3 children, this passionate home cook thought it was too late to go back to school and pursue her culinary dreams… until she discovered CulinaryLab Cooking School. Meet Joana, a student from our inaugural class. Joana attends school two days a week, and works at Haven Gastropub two days a week as part of her apprenticeship.

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Affiliate Chefs

As we enter into the New Year, we asked a few of our Affiliate Chefs what their New Years Resolution is for 2016. Here’s what they said:

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Meet Chef David Slay

David Slay is the Chef and Managing Partner of Park Avenue and Il Garage in Stanton, CA., as well as one of our apprenticeship partners. He has been called “brilliantly innovative” and enjoys a well-earned reputation as one of the most creative chefs in the world of food and entertaining. Where the acclaimed Park Ave is all steaks and chops and American cuisine, Il Garage has a simple Italian menu that changes daily. Like Park Ave, though, many of the ingredients come from the garden Slay planted on the property when he first opened Park Ave. Learn more about Chef David here:

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Read more about Chef Mark and Old Vine Cafe

Mark McDonald is an internationally recognized chef, restaurant owner, and restaurant consultant.

In 2007 Chef Mark opened the award-winning restaurant, Old Vine Cafe, in Costa Mesa, CA. His menu offerings reflect a commitment to regionalism and the use of local seasonal ingredients, a hallmark of Chef Mark’s culinary training in southern Italy. Chef Mark studied at Laguna Culinary Arts before moving to Calabria, Italy to study under Master Chef John Nocita at the Italian Culinary Institute.

In this interview, Chef Mark talks about his background, his experience with his restaurant Old Vine Cafe, and provides some tips to young aspiring chefs.

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