My son will be graduating High School in a few weeks.
He has a strong desire to go to Culinary School and some day, own his own restaurant!
We live near Houston and would like some advice on possible schools. So far his first choice is “The Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio” and his second choice is “Texas Culinary Academy, Austin”
I would appreciate hearing from students that have attended either one of these schools.
Actually, his school of choice was “Le Cordon Bleu in New York”, but due to the distance and expense, it is out of the question. We were told the Texas Culinary Academy in Austin was a branch of the one in New York.
The Culinary Institute of America in New York is one of the best culinary schools in the US, I’m not sure about the one in San Antonio. I’ve been planning on going myself for the past few years, but I’m having second thoughts just because of what I’ve picked up so far working in the industry. If they have the same requirements, and I’m pretty sure they do, they will require at least 6 months kitchen experience prior to starting. And believe me, this is good exposure, working in a professional kitchen is very different from what you see on the food network or from home cooking. Getting that experience will make sure he knows what he’s getting into. I can’t stress that enough. There’s really nothing glamorous about it, in fact, it can be down right brutal… But if he has the passion, he should go for it.
Plus, I’ve talked to a lot of chefs, and majority say that experience and attitude are key to working in a kitchen. In fact, almost all of them say that everything they learned from school, they could have learned on the job. Don’t just ask the schools for their opinion on this, they will just try to sell the school idea to you, talk to people in the industry, they will give you a better understanding of things.