Written by James Creange.
Photos by James Creange.
Culinary School of Fort Worth instructor Jason Avelson and Everman High School instructor Ms. Bradley recently conducted a trip to The Fort Worth Club for Everman’s Culinary Arts students. Hosted by Chef Tim Prefontaine, the 11 person class was given a chance to see how a fine dining restaurant runs in the back of the house.
“Chef Prefontaine runs a great establishment at The Fort Worth Club, and I knew that he would be the best kind of person to teach these students in the kitchen,” Avelson said.
Prefontaine split the students into groups of three and brought the groups into the kitchen one at a time. Each group plated a course (appetizer, entrée, dessert) of the meal and then enjoyed that course with the rest of their classmates. It was a great experience for the students to get to work in the back of the house, but it was also a great experience for them to hear the stories of some of the people that worked there.
“The sous chef at The Fort Worth Club started as a dish washer and worked his way up,” Avelson said. “This is such a great learning moment for the students to see a success story like that and know that there are possibilities out there for them to have the same kind of experience.”
This semester’s fun does not end there for the Culinary Arts students. They will spend the rest of the semester making handmade pastas and learning how to properly plate dishes. This will all build up to a meal that will be served to the Everman and CSFTW staff as well as the Intro to Culinary students. The Culinary Arts students will make every part of the dishes in that meal, and the Intro students will help with the preparation and front of the house.
“I am so excited for this day when these students will get to showcase their talents to their teachers and their peers,” Avelson said. “They are going to be amazed at what they can do.”