DePaul to launch hospitality leadership school

DePaul University recently received a $7.5 million gift—the school's second largest private donation ever—from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to establish the DePaul School of Hospitality Leadership, which will help address the hospitality industry's growing need for highly-educated, diverse management.

Based at the university's nationally recognized College of Commerce in downtown Chicago, the school will offer a bachelor's degree in hospitality leadership beginning in the fall of 2009 to prepare students for management roles at hotels, restaurants, convention and tourism ventures, spas and related leisure industries.

In addition to targeting traditional undergraduates, the innovative program will seek to enroll qualified Chicago hospitality workers who want to move into management but lack the educational credentials to do so. The goal is to help these workers—many of whom are minorities and/or potential first generation college students—embark on management career paths through greater access to education. Ongoing fundraising will support DePaul's plans to add graduate degrees, continuing education programs and a research center at the school.

"Chicago is the third largest convention destination in the United States and has been chosen as a candidate city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. It deserves a world class hospitality school to support this major industry," said the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul president. "Thanks to this generous donation from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, DePaul can build a program that will educate leaders from diverse backgrounds for this industry."

New gluten-free cookbook from CIA chef-instructor

As nutritional therapies—like a gluten-free diet—gain more and more attention in battles against everything from wheat allergies to celiac disease to autism, many parents are seeking gluten-free recipes that round out and complete their children's diets. Luckily, those parents eager not to miss out on important food milestones, like a first birthday cake or an afternoon of cookie baking, now have a new resource: a complete cookbook of gluten-free baked goods, compliments of renowned chef and Culinary Institute of America professor of baking and pastry arts Richard J. Coppedge, Jr., C.M.B.

With a foreword by George Chookazian, founder of Foods By George, chef Coppedge's Gluten-Free Baking with The Culinary Institute of America: 150 Flavorful Recipes from the World's Premier Culinary College (Adams Media; October) grants the gluten-sensitive the opportunity to indulge in gooey cinnamon buns, crusty French bread, savory pizza and schmear-worthy bagels. With nutritional analysis accompanying each recipe, chef Coppedge shows readers how to use alternatives to gluten in baking such favorites as: maple pecan tart, pineapple upside down cake, cream cheese rugalach, molten chocolate cake, ham and cheese scones, potato leek quiche, and black bottom cake with cherry compote.

Whether first-time bakers or professional chefs, readers will find the baking techniques in this book to be comprehensive and easy to master. Using a combination of chef Coppedge's flour blends, readers will soon be creating pies, tarts, cookies, brownies, savories and pastries sure to satisfy any palate—gluten-sensitive or not.

The French Pastry School names three new chef-instructors

The French Pastry School recently added three chef-instructors to its faculty: master baker Jonathan Dendauw, former World Pastry Cup champion En-Ming Hsu and 2008 World Pastry Cup champion Dimitri Fayard.

Dendauw’s devotion to Artisan bread-making has taken him all across France and the United States. Originally from a small town in Belgium, Dendauw began his baking apprenticeship in Nimes, France through a centuries-old organization called Les Compagnons du Devoir. Most recently, the Compagnons took Dendauw to La Farm Bakery in Cary, N.C., where he worked under master baker Lionel Vatinet.

Hsu’s accomplishments over the past 15 years include numerous awards and accolades. In 2001, as team captain of the U.S. World Pastry Cup team, she lead the United States to victory in Lyon, France. That year, her team won by the largest margin ever achieved. An apprentice of The French Pastry School’s co-founder Sébastien Canonne, MOF, Hsu will begin teaching at the school in January 2009, focusing on plated desserts instruction.

Originally from Auch, France, Fayard first came to the United States at age 19 to work for François Payard's Payard Pâtisserie and Bistro in New York City. In 2000, he became the assistant pastry chef at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. In 2003, he and his wife Keli Fayard opened Vanille Pâtisserie in Chicago. Chef Fayard specializes in flavor profiles and will teach the French cakes and tarts portion of the school's 24-week "L'Art de la Pâtisserie" program beginning in January 2009.

Sullivan University students cook for U.S. Olympic athletes in Beijing

Sullivan University students, in Beijing to cook for U.S. Olympic athletes and sponsors at the 2008 Olympics, tour the Great Wall of China: (l to r, front row) Kelly Kamin, April Gregory, Marcus Jefferson, Ben Marine; (l to r, middle row) Sullivan’s Professional Catering Chair Kimberley Jones, Kyle McDaniel, Rachelle Hyder; (l to r, back row): Josh Sperry, Brian Abbott, Darnell Ferguson, Nate Gibson.

NRAEF and CKSF create new scholarship opportunities

The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF), in partnership with the Common Knowledge Scholarship Foundation (CKSF), is pleased to announce the launch of the new NRAEF Restaurant Management Scholarship Quiz for current undergraduate students pursuing a degree in the restaurant/foodservice industry. Unlike the NRAEF’s other scholarships, the partnership with CKSF will allow students to compete for scholarship dollars via monthly online multiple-choice quizzes that cover topics related to the restaurant and foodservice industry. Quiz content is taken from the ManageFirst Program, a college-level restaurant and foodservice management program from National Restaurant Association Solutions.

At the end of a monthly scholarship contest, scholarship recipients will be chosen based on their scores on a 15-to-25-question quiz focusing on restaurant management. The 10 students with the highest scores will each win a $500 scholarship award. For the remainder of 2008 and throughout 2009, $60,000 in scholarships will be awarded.

The BCA brings together students and NYC chefs

At the fifth annual Global Food and Wine Experience, held Tuesday, Sept. 23, at New York City’s Tavern on the Green, the BCA (formerly known as the Black Culinarian Alliance) paired more than 50 chefs and wine merchants from the city’s finest food and beverage establishments with minority culinary students from area schools.

“We are pleased to partner with the BCA to offer these kinds of opportunities to young students of color in the culinary field,” said exhibitor Sue Torres, owner of Sueños Restaurant.

Participating schools in the program included the Culinary Training Institute, Food Service Training Academy of New Jersey, Monroe College, South Bronx Job Corps, Culinary Academy of NY/LI, Art Institute of New York and the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE).

“This event [was] incredibly important to increase the awareness of these opportunities within the wine and beverage industry,” said Alex Askew, president of the BCA, which was established in 1998 as a national not-for-profit organization devoted to the enhancement of professional and educational opportunities for people of color within the culinary and hospitality
industries.

Other participating restaurants/exhibitors included Il Porto, Melba’s Restaurant, Hudson River Café, The Seasoned Pot, Calle Ocho and Marriott at Brooklyn Bridge.

The Culinary Vegetable Institute teams up with Lorain JVS Vocational School

A future generation of chefs played in The Chef’s Garden soil and The Culinary Vegetable Institute kitchen recently as part of an educational, team-building exercise. The aspiring culinarians, 45 high school seniors (two of which are pictured here) from the Lorain County Joint Vocational School Culinary Arts and Baking and Pastry Arts programs, visited the Northern Ohio farm and chef retreat as part of an annual field trip.

“The goal of this trip is to get these students energized for the year,” said chef Chris Moore, instructor for the school’s pastry arts program. Moore and chef Tim Michitsch, who runs the Culinary Arts portion of the program, arranged the event and accompanied their students.

On the first day of the two-day experience, half of the students toured the fields and greenhouses of The Chef’s Garden specialty product farm, while the other half worked in the kitchen to cook a lunch for their fellow students (see picture below) with the help of Culinary Vegetable Institute chef Johannes Klapdohr, who created the lunch menu. On the second day, the groups switched roles.