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Many chefs in this bistro
Culinary students at Hale High School learn the basics
Junior Carlos Martinez chops onions in the kitchen of Nathan’s Bistro. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
By SCOTT CHERRY
Published: 11/26/2009 2:22 AM
Last Modified: 11/26/2009 10:13 AM
Last summer, Carlos Martinez got to cook with a top Oklahoma City chef, Robert Black, for a high-dollar charity function to help fund culinary scholarships from the Oklahoma Restaurant Association.
"We did foie gras," Martinez said. "That's goose liver, you know. It was awesome."
Martinez landed the opportunity to cook for that event because of his participation in the Culinary & Restaurant Management program at Hale High School. It is a magnet-school program open to students throughout Tulsa Public Schools.
In addition to taking classroom and cooking classes, students also operate a retail restaurant, Nathan's Bistro, open to the public 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays when school is in session. Its next day of operation will be Dec. 4.
Martinez, a junior, was part of the program's first class his freshman year.
"I plan to go on to culinary school, so my four years at Hale should be a big help," he said. "I eventually want to cook at a restaurant in New York City."
Students work in a gleaming kitchen that probably measures around 3,000 square feet and is filled with stainless steel equipment, dry-storage rooms, a walk-in cooler and a bank of reach-in freezers. The program started with a little less than that.
"That first year we started in an old family and consumer science (Home Ec for older generations) room, and we had one knife and a broken mixer from the 1950s," said Carly Austin, the Culinary Arts II instructor. "The kids who started the program really appreciate the state-of-the-art kitchen we have now."
Students rotate responsibilities throughout the school year, taking turns at the pasta station, grill, sauté
station, fryer, garde-manger (salads), executive chef and, no doubt everyone's favorite, the dishwashing pit. They do prep duties for Nathan's Bistro on Thursday and Friday morning.
The day we were there, students also were decorating gingerbread houses to submit for the Festival of Trees at Philbrook Museum of Art as well as putting the final touches on that day's Nathan's Bistro special, pumpkin crème brûlée.
Christy Squyres is the Culinary Arts I instructor. She and Austin get assistance from two artists in residence, professional chefs Chris Bullis and Nicole Graham, graduates of the culinary arts program of Johnson & Wales University.
Students also tend an outdoor garden planted with herbs and vegetables. The garden is overseen by Stephen Eberle, community food and garden coordinator for Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa, and Hale teacher Mary Weddle, a master gardener.
"The garden provides a good learning experience," Austin said. "For instance, you can tell a student to bring in some rosemary, and the student has to be able to identify it from what he or she has been taught.
"Steve is planning a bigger garden and a pond for Hale that will benefit other classes, such as the science classes, too."
Austin said additional community support is provided by an advisory committee made up of chefs, restaurant owners and restaurant equipment store representatives.
"Tuck Curren (Biga and Local Table), Thomas Hunter (Ricardos) and Camille Rutkauskas (Camille's Sidewalk Cafe) are just a few of the people who have donated their time and talents for the students," Austin said. "People from Arby's come in every year and talk to the students about the restaurant industry as a whole. The community has been a great help."
She said some current students have cooking jobs at Mazzio's, Rib Crib, Reasor's and Warehouse Market.
"We're always looking for jobs," Austin said. "The kids don't have the finer skills they would have coming out of a college culinary school, but those in Culinary II should have good basic skills."
Culinary magnet
The Culinary & Restaurant
Management program at
Hale High School is part of a
$1.2 million Magnet Schools
of America grant awarded
three years ago to Tulsa Public
Schools.
Individual programs, such
as the culinary program, are
called strands. Hale also is
home to the Health & Human
Performance strand and the
Lodging Management & Hospitality
strand.
Other strands with specific
interest-based focuses are
found at Webster, Central and
McLain high schools.
“We’ve had about 200
transfers to the programs at
Hale, and they come from all
over town,” said Brenda Summers,
culinary arts magnet
coordinator. “We have about
90 in the culinary program,
including about 30 on the
Culinary Arts II level.”
She said students are
tested at the end of each year,
just as they would be in math
or English, to maintain a level
of performance for national
certification.
Summers said the hospitality
and culinary programs
receive an additional boost
by partnering with Oklahoma
State University in Stillwater
and OSU-Okmulgee. This
is the final year that grant
money will be available to run
the programs.
“After this year, we go into
the Tulsa Public Schools budget,”
Summers said. “We will
do things to help ourselves
as much as we can, such as
the money we make from
Nathan’s Bistro.”
She said the Hale program
might seem similar to the culinary
classes provided at Tulsa
Technology Center, but there
is plenty of room for both.
“Our magnet school
students have a full-day curriculum
here, and the culinary
part is treated like a lab class.
Besides, we have a waiting list
for both Hale and Tulsa Tech.
I think the chefs’ shows on
television have made cooking
careers look more attractive
than they once did.”
Nathan’s Bistro
How’s this for a hearty lunch?
A bowl of cream of potato and bacon soup,
an old-fashioned Monte Cristo sandwich and
cherry cobbler a la mode for dessert.
Or perhaps tomato basil soup, pasta primavera
and pumpkin creme brulee.
On the lighter side, you could go for a spinach
or Caesar salad.
Those were the menu choices on a recent
Friday at Nathan’s Bistro.
“The students develop their own menus and
prepare the dishes from scratch,” said Culinary
Arts II instructor Carly Austin. “I order the food,
but they have to receive it and make sure everything
is there and fresh.”
Sandwiches and entrees are about $6, salads
$4-$5 and soups $3. Soft drinks, tea and coffee
are $1.25.
Students in the Culinary & Restaurant
Management program handle the kitchen work
for Nathan’s Bistro, and students in Lodging
Management & Hospitality, under the direction
of Janetta Williams, run the front of the house
— cashier, servers, hostess, etc.
The six tables in the cozy dining room are
covered with black tablecloths and cloth napkins,
and dark half-wall paneling gives the room
a warm atmosphere.
Nathan’s Bistro is open to the public. Hours
are 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays when school is in
session. Its next day of operation is Dec. 4. Callin
orders may be placed at 925-1249.
The entrance is on the east side of Hale High
School, 6960 E. 21st St.
By SCOTT CHERRY
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