Vollrath Culinary Award winners honored

The Vollrath Co., a manufacturer of quality smallwares and equipment for the foodservice industry, was proud to present four faculty members and four students at Johnson & Wales University with Vollrath Culinary Awards. Launched in 2003, the Vollrath program honors one student and one chef-instructor at each Johnson & Wales campus with the prestigious Vollrath Student Culinary Award and Vollrath Chef Service Award, respectively. The Vollrath Awards were developed in conjunction with the university as part of the company's continuing efforts to support culinary arts students and instructors and the future of the foodservice industry. Each of the eight winners also received a selection of Vollrath's Intrigue Professional Cookware.

Encouraging Johnson & Wales University's culinary and pastry arts students in their pursuit of academic excellence, the Vollrath Student Culinary Award recognizes high-achieving students who are employed in the foodservice industry and engaged in the life of the university and their communities. The 2008 winners are:

• Nathan Pane, Providence Campus, a senior from Auburn, N.H., who is majoring in culinary arts and food service entrepreneurship;
• Robert Liska, Denver Campus, a junior from Kittredge, Colo., who is majoring in Food Service Management;
• Doug Wisnioski, North Miami Campus, a junior from Miami, Fla., who is majoring in culinary arts; and
• John Christ, Charlotte Campus, a sophomore from Anderson S.C., who is majoring in culinary arts.

The Vollrath Chef Service Award was presented to chef instructors who consistently demonstrate outstanding dedication to both the students and the university. This year's Vollrath Chef Service Award faculty winners are:

• Chef Frank Mullaney, instructor, Providence Campus;
• Elena Clement, instructor, Denver Campus;
• Patricia Wilson, professor, North Miami Campus; and
• Natalie Stachon, special functions coordinator, Charlotte Campus.

January 2009 CET digital edition online

Look Inside >> January 2009

The digital edition of the January 2009 issue of Chef Educator Today (CET) is now online through the CET Web Site. This digital edition features all the same great content as the print edition, plus it includes an online exclusive article on turkey fabrication.

To access the January digital edition, click the icon above. For the CET digital archives, click here.

City Tech honors celebrity chef Waldy Malouf and educator James Ryan

New York City College of Technology’s Department of Hospitality Management recently held a winter wonderland-themed event in celebration of the January 2009 graduating seniors from the hospitality-management department

Among those honored were hospitality industry “celebs” Waldy Malouf (pictured above, right), chef/co-owner of Beacon Restaurant & Bar and Waldy’s Wood Fired Pizza & Penne, and James Ryan (pictured above, left), a graduate of the City Tech program (’90) and a culinary arts coordinator with the New York City Board of Education. The two were named recipients of the 2008 Outstanding Industry Professional and Distinguished Alumnus Awards, respectively, for their dedicated professionalism and many contributions to the hospitality field and the College.

Waldy Malouf: Outstanding Industry Professional Award
Upon graduating from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in 1975, Waldy Malouf went on to win first prize in the Carras Culinary Competition at the “21 Club” in New York City before beginning his career. Over the ensuing years, he has worked at The Rainbow Room, The Hudson River Club, The Four Seasons, La Côte Basque, The St. Regis Hotel and La Cremaillere in Bedford, N.Y.

A published author, Malouf also has been a participating chef in Share Our Strength, Taste of the Nation’s annual fund-raising campaign, for several years. He serves on the board of directors of the CIA and is chair of its Alumni Council. He also serves on the board of the American Institute of Wine and Food (NY Chapter) and volunteers his services for various hunger-relief causes and culinary-education concerns. Shortly after 9/11, he co-founded the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund. To date, the fund has raised more than $22 million for families of food service workers killed in the attack on the World Trade Center.

James Ryan ’90: 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award
James Ryan has been the culinary arts coordinator at Port Richmond High School on Staten Island for eight years. The program now enrolls more than 300 students and prepares them for advanced culinary educations as well as for entry-level positions in the food industry. The program has produced many success stories, including the awarding of more than $200,000 in scholarships and student trips to the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in London.

Before becoming a teacher, Ryan had worked in the restaurant industry since high school. He began as a dishwasher and prep cook at the Island Chateau while still in school. He graduated from New York City College of Technology in 1990 with a degree in hotel and restaurant management. He gained experience through an internship at the famous Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy. While attending City Tech, he also participated in the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show’s Cake Decorating Competition and won a Blue Ribbon for the College. Following graduation, he worked in many restaurants and food service establishments, including Carol’s Café and Aesop’s Tables.

Monroe College School of Hospitality Management and the Culinary Arts names new dean

Chef Frank Constantino (pictured above) was recently named as the new dean of the Monroe College School of Hospitality Management and the Culinary Arts in New Rochelle, N.Y.

Constantino is a highly decorated chef. He won the 2002 Coupe des Nacions at the Festival de Gastronomie in Quebec City, Canada, as a member of the Big Apple Culinary Team, and has earned gold medals in American Culinary Federation competitions and other recipe contests.

In addition to his noteworthy professional credentials, Constantino also has been an award-wining culinary educator for more than 18 years. As a culinary coach, he led the Art Institute's junior hot food team to the 2006 New York State Junior Hot Food Championship.

Constantino said in a recent press release that he's looking forward to building on the strengths of Monroe's great faculty, students and facilities, and above all else, helping to carry on the college's 75-year tradition of higher education geared for career development.

Constantino, his wife and three sons own a small farm in Orange County, N.Y., where they raise heirloom and specialty fruits and vegetables grown organically and bio-dynamically.

Sullivan University’s NCHS adds two new faculty members

Sullivan University’s National Center for Hospitality Studies (NCHS), Louisville, Ky., recently announced the addition of two celebrated hospitality professionals to its faculty: E. Jon Bjornson has joined the staff as chair of hotel and restaurant management, replacing the late Kerry Sommerville, and Michael Cunha has joined the staff as a faculty instructor on skills and purchasing.

Bjornson comes to Sullivan University from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, N.J., where he was an adjunct professor in the field of hospitality, teaching courses on the concepts of Rooms Division Management and Property Management. Prior to his work at Fairleigh Dickinson, Bjornson was vice president of sales and marketing for The Ultimate Sweet Tooth in Bushkill, Pa. Bjornson also has a remarkable background in hotel management and has held the positions of franchise services manager for Howard Johnson and Travelodge and lead technology specialist for all nine Cendant hotel brands in the United States and Canada.

Cunha, who was operating partner and executive chef of the four-star Limestone Restaurant for six years, served as a member of Sullivan University’s Advisory Panel for 10 years. Cunha is transitioning to this academic position with Sullivan so that he can spend more time with his family than a restaurant career allows. Prior to opening Limestone in 2003, Cunha was executive chef de cuisine at the AAA five-diamond Oakroom at the Seelbach Hotel (Louisville, Ky.) and executive chef at the Austin Hilton Hotel in Texas. He is a member of the American Culinary Federation, the Chaine de Rotisseurs and the James Beard Foundation. Cunha received his culinary training from Johnson & Wales University, where he earned degrees in culinary arts, hospitality management and pastry arts.

“Both Bjornson and Cunha have the passion for the hospitality industry that is so important in a Sullivan University faculty member,” said Tom Hickey, Director of the NCHS. “They bring a considerable amount of expertise in their respective fields, and I think they will inspire a lot of enthusiasm in our students.”

'Saturdays at the CIA' offer continuing education based on best-selling cookbooks

A new series of classes for food enthusiasts, highlighting recipes from best-selling cookbooks, leads the Spring 2009 curriculum at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). The new "Saturdays at the CIA" lineup of classes will give budding chefs the chance to prepare signature dishes from the CIA's popular line of cookbooks.

Among the 12 new classes to be offered this season are: Rise of Asia; Spain and the World Table; Soups; Grilling; Baking at Home—The Desserts; Cake Decorating; Gourmet Meals in Minutes; and Breakfast & Brunches. "Saturdays at the CIA" classes will be held on the following Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: March 7 and 21; April 4 and 18; May 9 and 16; June 6 and 20.

"In our new Spain and the World Table course, participants will have the opportunity to work with ingredients they may have only seen until now on the Food Network," explains Laura Pickover, director of food enthusiasts programs at the CIA. "In making the signature tapas, the small bites so popular in the Latino world, students will work for the first time with fiery peppers, exotic spices, and savory foods that are used to create Spain's greatest culinary inventions. It's like traveling abroad with our chefs to sample specialties—right here in Hyde Park."

A Saturday schedule begins at 9:30 a.m. with orientation, followed by a lecture. Students head to the kitchen for food production and collaborate together on lunch. All attendees will receive a CIA cookbook and an official apron. Tuition for classes is $225 per person.

To register for one of the new "Saturdays at the CIA" classes, food enthusiasts can visit the CIA Web site at www.ciachef.edu/enthusiasts or call the college's Continuing Education Department at (800) 888-7850. Recipes from celebrated CIA cookbooks are the focus of the new "Saturdays at the CIA" food enthusiast classes, to be held Spring 2009 at The Culinary Institute of America's Hyde Park campus. (Photo credit: CIA/Keith Ferris)

D.C. Central Kitchen celebrates 20th anniversary

D.C. Central Kitchen (DCCK)—which began it first phase of operation on Jan. 20, 1989, by redistributing excess food from balls held for the presidential inauguration of George H. W. Bush—today celebrates its 20th anniversary.

During these past 20 years, DCCK has been combating hunger and creating opportunity by:

• recovering un-served food from restaurants, hotels and foodservice businesses;
• training unemployed men and women for careers in the foodservice industry through its Culinary Job Training program;
• providing free, nutritious meals to shelters and other social service agencies;
• coordinating outreach services to help men and women living on the street find a way inside;
• opening "Campus Kitchens" at universities and high schools across America; and
• offering change through empowerment.

By partnering with local farmers, small businesses and concerned citizens, DCCK now aims to increase its sustainability efforts by generating 50% of its own revenue, while shining a light on new forms of business as philanthropy. At the same time, DCCK will step forward to advocate for an engaged and flexible non-profit sector during this era of rapidly changing demographics and societal issues.

As reported yesterday on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, this year, DCCK's culinary arts students will be cooking for some of the events surrounding the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Click here to listen to the full segment.