Mark your calendars.  The 2019 Junior Showcase will be held Friday May 17^th.  The Level 3 students will prepare a buffet style spread to showcase the skills they learned throughout the year in Baking & Pastry and Garde Manger (the study of cold foods, breads, desserts) with Chef Kogi.  The Senior Showcase will be held the week of May 28^th – 31^st.  Exact date yet to be determined. More details will be announced soon.  

Students will practice their front of the house skills during their showcase.

Last year the junior class served a variety of menus items: waffles topped with shrimp and quail eggs from our Terrace Garden, pork sausage sandwiches, meatball sliders, tiramisu sandwiches, tomato soup, Waldorf salad and much more.

Want to work with some of Orange County's best chefs? Check your email for volunteer opportunities to work with some incredibly talented chefs. We recently had more than 20 students volunteer at the al fresco farm-to-table dinner organized by Orange Home Grown Farmers & Artisans Market.  (See gallery for pictures from the 2016 event.)

Remember: CA&H students (L1-3) are required to volunteer for a minimum of 4 events each year.

The farm-to-table dinner was a great opportunity for students from various levels to put their skills to work. The organizers were thoroughly impressed with our students' talents and professionalism. The students took on several tasks throughout the evening, including setup, plating, cooking and serving guests hors d'oeuvres during the cocktail hour.

Shown: Rachel Bland passes out hen liver mousse to guests.  

One of the many amazing dishes -- a gourmet corn dog -- served at the farm-to-table dinner during the cocktail hour. 

The Orange Home Grown Farmers & Artisans Market is held every Saturday from 9-1 p.m. on the grounds of a historic produce plant in Old Towne Orange. The dinner was held to benefit the market's new educational farm. Roughly 200 guests attended the al fresco dining experience.

During the family-style dinner, students worked with Greg Daniels of Haven Gastropub in Orange, Master Baker Dean Kim of OC Baking Co. in Orange, Dee Nguyen of Break of Dawn in Laguna Niguel, Gabbi Patrick of Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen in Orange, Orange Home Grown Chef Lisa Gilmore and Chef David Coleman.

The students also learned how to serve the family-style meal from a Sodexo volunteer who works for Chapman University.  

Signing up for catering events can result in great things: making your first paycheck, network with other students, get your name out there when meeting managers and chefs from the industry. In the past our students have  made first impressions that landed them jobs or internships.

Many thanks to all the students who worked the 2017 Orange Home Grown event: Alexandra Neoman, Austin Crawford, Chris Bergren, Cloyce Martin, Hannah MacDonald, Henry Barber, Ian Tomlinson, Jack Bray, Nathan Hunter, Katie Lee, Leila Benjelloun, Letty Tackett, Lizzy Sanchez, Miles Knudtson, Naomi Vazquez, Nick Morgan, Rachel Bland and Veronica Padilla.

(Photos Courtesy Will Hare and William Wallace) 

In early 2017, then-Level 2 student Cloyce Martin (left) recently launched a pop-up restaurant called Lock & Key. The inaugural dinner drew about 80 diners to The Knotted Apron in Whittier. The guests dined on a five-course meal conceived by Martin and his culinary team.  Junior Thomas Martinez (right) was the front of the house manager.

Cloyce showed great poise throughout the evening. He cooked and mingled with guests while delivering food to several large tables. The five-course meal included celery root soup, beet salad carpaccio, scallops in a Thai broth (shown), pork loin in herbed polenta and biscuits and berries. 

The pop-up dinner was held in Whittier at the Knotted Apron, a cooking school with an exhibition kitchen. Through his TV connections on "Man vs. Child: Chef Showdown," Cloyce was able to secure this charming venue. 

Chef Alex Aviles, who teaches World Cuisine to Level 2 students, coached Martin throughout the evening. He was also spotted serving a few dishes to guests.

Thank you chef for supporting our ambitious students.  

Cloyce recruited several CA&H students to work on his L&K team: Thomas Martinez, Alex Nishizawa, Thibault Weber, Samuel Victoria, Sophie Shaka, Amber Rahim, Emily Fedorchek, Mia Moore and Max Alvarado. Parent Diana Alvarado acted as Sommelier for the evening.

 If you missed this one, don't fret. Word has it that Chef Cloyce is planning more pop-ups. Stay tuned.

ProStart allows our students to test their skill against other well-regarded high school culinary and hospitality programs in the state.  This past year there were three categories: Management, Culinary and Innovation.  The students are judged by industry professionals who give them valuable feedback.  This time around we entered one team for each category of the competition in Pomona.  We walked away with First Place win for our Management Team, coached my Chef Mattos and Innovation Team, coached by Director of Digital Media, Patrick Williams.  Management consisted of Emily Fedorchek (senior) and Nicholas Bilt (junior).  The Innovation team was a unique blend of CA&H and Digital Media students allowing them to combine their expertise: Dylan Astrup (junior), Gabby Dagdag (DM junior), Xena Tanious (DM junior), Nico Boyadjian (DM junior), Alec Boyadjian (junior) and Chanel Barrens (DM junior).

(Click through the Gallery for Team Highlights)

Our talented crew included Andrew Barone (sophomore), Henry Barber (junior), Dakari Harris (junior), Mckenna Voisin (junior), Paige Letson (senior).  They were coached by Chef Alex Aviles, who teaches World Cuisine to our Level 2 students.

Each Culinary team has one hour to prepare a starter, entrée and dessert using only two butane burners. Competitors must calculate the cost of their recipes and are judged on knife skills, teamwork, safety, sanitation and communication. 

Chef Mattos and Chef Aviles begin working with teams in the fall. This year the state competition will be held in Pomona. Besides competing, students get to network with industry professionals and like-minded students from over 30 high schools within California during the two-day event.

Fresh, seasonal vegetables tossed in a sour cream and white balsamic vinaigrette, topped with a coral tuile and fresh salmon roe.

Seared Beef Tenderloin, served with celery root mashed potatoes, pear apple salad, demi-glace and topped with sautéed asparagus heads and morels.

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A pie crust tuile served with pearled vanilla crème sauce, orange-honey dressed berries and chocolate ganache whipped cream.

Our Management Team – Emily Fedorchek returning team member and Nicholas Bilt were coached by Chef Daniel Mattos.  The team nabbed OCSA’s second ProStart State Championship.  The team represented California in the National ProStart Invitational in Providence, RI.  This is the country’s premier competition for high school students studying culinary arts and restaurant management.

Our management team presented a plan for a new restaurant concept. They were judged on marketing tactics, a menu, restaurant design, and organizational structure. The team has to pitch their restaurant concept to a panel of judges made up of industry professionals.  The presentation is then under scrutiny and the students have to defend their business proposal.  All done within time constraints.   

Final thoughts from Chef Mattos:  "This adventure is over and above the CA&H/OCSA commitment.  I truly believe that everyone involved learns and grows as an individual from this experience.  It’s all about experiencing life; the ups and downs.  No matter the results, we get stronger and never give up on reaching our goals!"