One of the first things prospective students should look for in a culinary school is the internship/externship program offered. Most schools offer some sort of hands-on training, whether it’s in area restaurants or the school kitchens. This hands-on work is a vital part of learning to be a chef, since real-world experience is necessary to learn the pace and interactive team setting found in almost every restaurant today.
Some of the top culinary schools, including The French Culinary Institute and the Culinary Institute of America, have restaurants affiliated with their training programs. These restaurants are run by students who have reached the end of their culinary training and are getting ready to enter the professional world. The prep work, long hours, and fast-paced setting are all the same as what students can expect to find at a “real” restaurant, and the kitchen technology is up-to-date. At the same time, because these big-name schools groom some of the top chefs in the country, the restaurants are considered to be a high-tier dining experience for patrons.
The more famous culinary school restaurants include L’Ecole, the home of New York-based student-chefs from The French Culinary Institute, and the six restaurants affiliated with The Culinary Institute, including the American Bounty Restaurant, Escoffier Restaurant, Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici, and St. Andrew’s Café. In almost all cases, patrons who wish to visit these restaurants have to make reservations ahead of time, since the low prices associated with student work and the high quality of food offered by the soon-to-be culinary leaders of the country make for an ideal dining experience.
Why Choose a Culinary School with a Restaurant Attached?
If you can get into (and afford) one of the nicer schools, working at the school restaurant can be a great boost to your resume, and also give you exposure, since many established chefs dine there themselves as a way to keep an eye on the newest crop of talent. However, if you are looking at culinary schools in your own area, you can still benefit from the experience. Not all of the culinary schools that boast attached restaurants are the big-name ones, and many smaller institutions have cafes or small locations that give students a chance to showcase their skills.
Unlike an externship at an outside restaurant, school facilities tend to be less threatening and offer greater opportunities for continued learning. You work alongside your peers and under the tutelage of your instructors, and this more relaxed atmosphere can help prepare you for the real working world in a much less stressful way. However, it is important to note that the probability of you getting hired on at the restaurant after graduation is virtually zero, since the school will continue to generate its own staff.
Depending on your professional goals and your level of comfort in the kitchen, a culinary school with an attached restaurant might not be right for you. It is important to consider the externship and internship opportunities of each culinary school before you fill out an application, since for many students, it’s the work you do in an actual restaurant setting that really makes a difference in your education.
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How to Find and Choose the Right Culinary School
There’s a common saying that you “should never trust a skinny chef.” This kind of reasoning makes sense; after all, if a chef doesn’t enjoy his or her own food, why should you be tempted to even give it a try? Even more to the point, if an aspiring chef doesn’t produce food that others actually get to eat, why should any restaurant hire graduates fresh out of culinary school?