For a few short weeks each semester, students in the final stage of the Culinary Arts and Hospitality training program at Lincoln Land Community College work together to develop a unique menu from scratch for the student-run restaurant. The restaurant is located in the Workforce Career Center on the southwest corner of LLCC's main campus, where students hone skills from welding to truck driving to the creation of glossy chocolate mousse desserts and perfectly seared steaks. For the culinary arts students working the line at Bistro Verde, this experience of developing a menu and serving hungry guests is the culmination of all the skills they've acquired during their training.
"When I'm writing the menu with them, I try to make sure that we're hitting all the major cooking methods," explained chef and instructor Joshua Dineen, who himself trained at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and has more than two decades of experience running kitchens. "Of course we want to do things that are fun, but underneath that is genuine technique. We really try to focus on method teaching, rather than recipe teaching. You can follow a recipe, but if your hands don't know the method, there's not as much comprehension. When you get out into the real world, everyone will have their own spin on things, but if you know how to braise or make a mayonnaise from scratch, how those emulsions actually work, the learning curve is much faster no matter where or what you're cooking."
Once the fundamental techniques have been mastered, the students are encouraged to make the menu their own. "I give them a list of ingredients and some basic methodology," said Dineen, "but from there it's for them to own it. We taste through all their dishes and decide as a group how to tweak and finish each dish. We come to a consensus on each dish, and through that process they learn how to create dishes that appeal to a larger audience, rather than just what they like personally."
The student-run restaurant operates in two parts, first as Bistro-To-Go, where students develop and prepare a fast-casual menu for carryout. Later in the semester they open Bistro Verde as a full service restaurant where guests are encouraged to sit and choose from a creative but approachable menu. The current menu features deconstructed beef Wellington, spinach salad topped with crispy ham and cheese croquettes, a flavorful Taiwanese fried cod sandwich with crispy basil and a weekly rotating burger or horseshoe. In addition to the set menu there is a weekly pre-fixe three course chef special, created by a different pair of students each week. The chef special for Bistro Verde's opening week was created by student chef Darrius Buchanan and featured crab cakes with citrus butter sauce followed by a grilled New York strip steak with green beans, mashed potatoes and pan sauce, with a berry cheesecake parfait to finish, all for only $16.
The skills learned by the culinary students go beyond learning how to just produce delicious food. "They learn how to communicate," Dineen points out. "I have them work in pairs and I try not to micromanage them because I think it's important to teach them how to manage each other and themselves, as well as timing, organization and how to be prepared and plan ahead."
For many students in the program, this is their first experience cooking in a restaurant. "I came to LLCC to learn to bake," said student chef Chirstina Brown. "I decided to do the accelerated program so I could finish in a year. Honestly, working back here in the Bistro has probably been my favorite thing about the program, learning to get comfortable with the pace of service." Brown said she's also enjoyed experiencing different flavors and cooking styles. "Working with Chef Josh has been great. He likes to branch out and do lots of different recipes from different cultures and techniques. For my chef special during Bistro-to-Go, I made Jamaican beef patties with mango chutney and pineapple salsa on the side. Everybody loved it and it was interesting to learn how long it would take to prep and do mass production on a recipe like that. And the dough is definitely better made by hand, so that takes a while."
Brown is already looking forward to her next shot at creating the weekly special. "My partner Erin and I are doing the special for week three of Bistro (week of April 9). Our appetizer will be panko fried oysters with a remoulade sauce, and then our main entree will be shrimp and grits, and then for dessert – my favorite part – we're doing scratch-made beignets with strawberry coulis."
Bistro Verde is open March 27 through May 2 (closed April 23-25), The restaurant serves lunch Tuesday through Thursday from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. Reservations are encouraged. For more information, visit llcc.edu/food-dining/bistro-verde. The website contains information about how to order online for carryout, however it's worth blocking out the time to come in, sit back and enjoy a delicious meal prepared by some very talented and ambitious students.
