By Lisa Parrish, GMC Editor

When is a restaurant more than a place to eat? When it serves as an educational training ground so successful it promotes positive town-gown relationships and produces kitchen-ready graduates. And, by the way, it’s an excellent meal if you can get a reservation.

The Dining Lab and Pastry Kiosk are student-run operations at The Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College that serve well over a 1,000 meals per week when open during the semester. Dr. Frank Costantino, CEC, CCE, CCA, AAC, holds the positions of dean and Dining Lab executive chef. Chef Costantino also won the CAFÉ/Idaho Potato Commission’s (IPC) post-secondary school Innovation Award for stand-out student-run dining operations at CAFÉ’s 12th -annual Leadership Conference.

The Dining Lab features contemporary, American, fine dining meals while the Pastry Kiosk serves the lunch crowd a la carte items including gourmet sandwiches on fresh bread, quiches, and a variety of pastry and baked goods. All participating students in the Culinary Arts program, including the culinary and baking and pastry tracts, participate in serving the public, staff and students.

“We provide students with real-world experience in their academic pursuits,” explains Chef Costantino. “This production model incorporates all classes within the program to feed into the Dining Lab and Pastry Kiosk. Students at every level have a vested interest. The restaurants’ successes are a source of pride to the students.”

Dining Lab diners are treated to a pre-fixe, three-course meal served in an elegant formal setting. Students from the College’s most advanced culinary class cook the food while students from the top level hospitality management classes serve the meals and beverages. The farm-to-table menu changes monthly and takes inspiration from seasonally available local ingredients. 

The Dining Lab’s success has not gone unnoticed. The New York Times described the restaurant as the “little kitchen that could,” while the Wall Street Journal accurately called it, “a training ground for students.”

Students receive invaluable hands-on experience, learning lessons not well-conveyed in a text book. To illustrate this point, Chef Costantino relayed an experience from the Dining Lab’s first service night back in 2013:

“Our kitchen is fully electric. We already had seated about 30 guests when the electricity went out in the kitchen and we had no induction stove or grill. Another chef instructor and I looked at each other and decided to get six butane burners and a toaster oven and do what we could. The students looked at us like we were crazy. About half way through the service, an electrician restored the electricity.” Chef Costantino continued, “Afterword, I asked my students how many would have closed the restaurant and they all said they would. I explained to them they don’t get that day back, all the sales lost can never be recouped.”

Emily Caraballo, a student from Staten Island, NY, and Pastry Kiosk student lab assistant, also explains how challenges naturally arrive and overcoming them proves to be extremely valuable lessons not soon forgotten. 

“I was working in the Kiosk when the POS system went down. We rely on the system to print all incoming tickets and match up the numbers to each customer. It was hard to manage front of the house and back of the house without the POS system. There was so much confusion,” she said.

Caraballlo’s chef instructors decided to write out each order, which even though it was laborious it worked once the students became accustomed to the new system. “It was nice to see the level of students’ professionalism when they worked under pressure. I learned that day you must always be prepared if something were to break down with some kind of back-up plan,” Caraballo explained.

Another aspect of the first-hand training received in the Dining Lab not usually found in other educational settings includes team-building and self-policing. Students derive these skills from moving to different kitchen stations every week. Chef Costantino explains, “You see kids taking out their phones to show other students who are new to a station pictures of how the food should look. I constantly have to teach and retrain. Sometimes, a student comes to me with a question and I ask him or her to ask another student who has already trained on the station. It creates an environment of teamwork.”

Caraballo echoes this team-building sentiment, “I feel satisfied that after the Dining Lab closes our guests are satisfied and the class worked through the service together. For the most part, work in the Dining Lab goes smoothly because we have help from our chef instructors and my fellow classmates. We all understand it is a team effort and we work on this together,” she said.

Chef Costantino began at The Culinary Institute of New York in 2008. “I was invited to a final senior culinary luncheon my first day on the job. They served fish and chips on folding chairs and tables in the back of kitchen. I knew we needed to change it and we did,” he said.

It is precisely this innovation that earned The Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College the IPC award. Don Odiorne, IPC vice president-foodservice, said, “Innovation is the primary driver of the culinary industry, and is core to teaching at many excellent foodservice-training programs nationwide. This year’s Leadership Award honors a program that — through their retail operations that double as immersion classrooms—exemplifies innovation that results in invaluable real-life experience for students.”

Chef Costantino’s innovation in creating a training environment has been very beneficial for his students. “Some graduates who start their careers at a low station are surprised. But, their experience here quickly pays off as they rapidly rise through the ranks. I just had a graduate call and tell me in three months she moved up nine stations,” he said with pride. “We have students working all over the world in kitchens and front of the house operations, from fine dining establishments to the Shake Shack. They leave here with a sense of pride and top-notch skills to be successful in the culinary world.”

About The Culinary Institute of New York at Monroe College
Located in New Rochelle, New York – just 25 minutes from New York City and its 23,000 restaurants – The Culinary Institute of New York (CINY) is an award-winning, nationally recognized culinary institute that provides students with a combination of theoretical education and hands-on experience in culinary arts, pastry arts, and hospitality management. With access to state-of-the-art instructional facilities designed to simulate the kitchens of restaurants, hotels and large production operations, students receive personal instruction and mentorship from a faculty of ACF-certified chefs and experienced industry professionals who are committed to their success. CINY has been ranked one of the top 10 culinary schools in the Northeastern US and in the top 20 nation-wide.

About the Idaho Potato Commission
Established in 1937, the Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) is a state agency that is responsible for promoting and protecting the famous “Grown in Idaho®” seal, a federally registered trademark that assures consumers they are purchasing genuine, top-quality Idaho® potatoes. Idaho’s growing season of warm days and cool nights, ample mountain-fed irrigation and rich volcanic soil, give Idaho® potatoes their unique texture, taste and dependable performance. These ideal growing conditions are what differentiate Idaho® potatoes from potatoes grown in other states. For more information, visit www.idahopotato.com.