EPCTC culinary program debuts ’Townie Pride Cafe’ for 2018-19 term

Student-run restaurant features seasonal-inspired cuisine as it opens this fall

By Mike Rego
Posted 10/11/18

EAST PROVIDENCE — Like any restaurant at the lunchtime rush, the culinary quarter at the East Providence Career and Tech Center was full of activity last Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 10, as students …

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EPCTC culinary program debuts ’Townie Pride Cafe’ for 2018-19 term

Student-run restaurant features seasonal-inspired cuisine as it opens this fall

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — Like any restaurant at the lunchtime rush, the culinary quarter at the East Providence Career and Tech Center was full of activity last Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 10, as students and faculty there held the grand opening of the “Townie Pride Cafe” for the 2018-19 term.

Some 80 students are involved in the EPCTC culinary program this year and about two dozen of them, sophomores and juniors, manned their respective stations in the back of the house for the first official seating of the term.

“We have a great group of kids in here. We separate them between the dining room, the kitchen and the bakery, so they all have their responsibilities. They’re responsible for setting it up and they’re responsible for breaking it down. That’s basically how we roll,” said Chef Marie-Claire McKillip, one of two new instructors for the CTC culinary program this year.

Said the other, Chef Kelsey Sanders, “It’s been pretty smooth sailing. It’s pretty consistent around here. They’re picking things up really well. They’re active. They’re on their toes. And they’re ready to go when orders come in.”

Students in the program aren’t all necessarily headed towards careers in the kitchen. They participate for a host of reasons, some, like junior Isabel Mays working in the bakery during the first service, with an eye towards future hospitality needs in the home.

“I actually plan on going to college for engineering,” Mays, in her second year taking culinary courses, said. “But this is a great thing to know for the future, like for family things and parties. You have to know how to cook, so this a really good thing to learn.”

There are, of course, pupils taking classes in pursuit of becoming a culinary professional, like junior Nayelle Viera, who was inspired to take up the craft by her mother, Sara, a former chef.

“I wanted to follow her,” Viera said.

Of being prepared by the curriculum in the CTC culinary program, she added, “It’s meeting people, helping each other make different foods you’ve never tried to make. And trying new foods you probably wouldn’t have tried helps a lot too. There’s a lot of things. You learn a lot techniques, like the cutting, everything you need to know basically.”

Viera, whom the third member of the staff Chef Bill Walker called a “star,” was on the championship-winning team at the state ProStart competition earlier this year. The contest was in Restaurant Management. Students had to create, design and propose a new business “Shark Tank” style. She along with classmates Shelby Wilkerson, Sidney Robertson and Luana Rodrigues represented Rhode Island at the national event in Orlando, Fla.

Viera said she plans on attending Johnson & Wales University in Providence when she graduates East Providence High School in two years. According to CTC principal Karen Mellen, the school’s kitchen was inspired by its long-standing relationship with JWU, which also sends many of its aspiring chefs to the city to serve as student teachers in the program. All three current members of the staff, in fact, are JWU alums.

“They are trained by the chefs, all Johnson & Wales graduates. They’re doing a great job, getting to know the kids,” Mellen said. “They start off with the basics. We have our Johnson & Wales kitchen. It’s set up the same way, the same format. So when the kids leave here as seniors then go there, it’s a done deal. They know exactly how the kitchen works. They know what the expectations are. They’re ready to go.”

To start the 2018-19 term, past students spent the first month of school doing some review of previous topics while those new to the program, Level 1 students, earned their ServSafe certification, which instructs them about safety and sanitation requirements in the kitchen.

They also worked conjuring up “Townie Pride Cafe” menu, which McKillip called a “collaborative” effort.

“We are very much into seasonal cooking,” she added. “This is my first year as an instructor here and I can already see so much talent in these kids.”

Walker, in his third year at the CTC and, himself, the current Rhode Island Hospitality Association’s Teacher of the Year, concurred with that sentiment.

“We have a really super excellent group of young people who joined us this year, the freshmen. They’re really enthusiastic. And the 10th graders, last year they really did a lot of book work, getting up to speed on things. This year, they’re embracing it and executing,” added Walker, who will receive his award in November during the 2018 “Stars of the Industry” awards ceremony in November at Twin River Casino in Lincoln.

He added, “All of the kids involved in the program, they’re all really into it, which is great.”

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.