October 28-November 3, 2004

food

Early Start

PUBLIC PERFORMANCE: Sarah Taylor (right) prepares an omelette as Alison Carroll adds mushrooms. Both are Restaurant School freshmen majoring in culinary arts. By: Michael T. Regan

The Restaurant School's students find a new way to the public's hearts—cooking them breakfast.

by Mary Armstrong

Where can you get great food and great coffee for breakfast? Around here it seems like affordable places do only one or the other well. The Restaurant School has always had the great coffee and baked goods at great prices—75 cents for a large fresh-roasted coffee, available at its Pastry Shop outpost. If you didn't mind a bit of nuking, there were even interesting premade breakfast dishes to heat up at the pastry shop. So what a pleasure to discover the latest twist in course offerings at the RS includes student chefs cooking in the spotlight, on demand, for anyone who wants freshly prepared breakfast and lunch, at very moderate prices.

Behind the school's imposing facade, an early Streetcar Suburb manse in West Philly restored to its original grandeur, a central courtyard has been created. The space is airy and light and resembles a perfect town square on the Mediterranean, complete with balconies. The school holds five restaurants—Italian Trattoria, European Courtyard, the American Heartland, Great Chefs of Philadelphia and Notre Table Gourmande—and the Pastry Shop. Though the students have been preparing meals for the public for a while, breakfast service just began at the Courtyard in September.

On our first visit, there were three or four students ranged around canopied cooking stations. They looked the part of young chefs, from toque to the requisite checked pants, except they looked a bit anxious. Chef Gary Trevisani circulated constantly, schmoozing the customers. He explained we were perhaps the second pair of outside customers these budding chefs had seen, thus the case of stage fright. About 20 students take part in each "class," one for breakfast and one for lunch, most working in the back on prep.

Nattily turned out in his three-piece suit, Trevisani looked more banker than executive chef. His passion for getting things right has him constantly watching over students, stepping in to demonstrate a technique as warranted, clean duds be damned.

Trevisani is director of curriculum development at RS, which means, "I can teach any course we offer!" The guests at RS help Trevisani demonstrate his dearest precept. "I encourage the kids to give the customers a great product, and there is only one way to do that: the right way." The theory is a part of student philosophy. One upperclassman was heard bragging to his peers, "This freshman gave me French toast this morning that was wet inside! I made him do it over!" No wonder those kids look nervous in a place where every person is potentially a teacher.

RS President Daniel Liberatoscioli had the idea of opening the student meals to the public. Trevisani explains, "We decided it was a better learning experience. They learn how to sell, and a chef has to know what is going on out front." This a chance to have the newly-forming culinary superstars explain to you what they can prepare for you today, with the type of enthusiasm any foodie relishes.

We can't recommend a particular dish because, as Trevisani explains, "We change the menu daily, because our largest clientele is our students. We want them to be interested. With a rotation of 30 to 35 dishes we won't repeat a dish within a month." Trevisani says he plans the menu concepts, and the chefs pick how to do it. "We do things as seasonally as possible," he says. "Right now, look for the colorful greens, like escarole. Soon we'll have winter squash; after first frost, broccoli rabe. We like to use food from the area." What does remain constant are the basic themes. Early mornings always bring fruit salads ($3) and fresh-squeezed OJ (less than a buck last visit), waffles, French toast and omelettes. A variety of compotes and syrups are available, with perhaps creme fraiche or whipped cream to gild the lily. The omelettes are tender and filled with delicacies. Trevisani asks, "Where can you get goat cheese or prosciutto or sun-dried tomatoes in an omelette for $4?" Fresh thyme and basil, grown on-site, will continue to star in many dishes until frost takes them.

Lunch continues the Mediterranean theme. Prepared salads, from simple at $2 to entree at $4, are packed and ready to go, as are an array of sandwiches, also $4. Trevisani asserts with pride that anything made with bread uses the school's own bread. Vegetarians are also well-served: "At each station we have a vegetarian item." My lunch favorite was a grilled veggie sandwich with zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and a savory tapenade, perhaps artichoke. Pasta will be cooked to order with either a cream- or oil-based sauce or fresh-tomato base. "We use no prepared food! It is all made here!" reminds Trevisani.

In addition to making the most of the teaching possibilities of serving meals to the public, Trevisani tells us they hope to make the place "a hang for the students and the public as well." Look for live music to be part of the mix in the not-too-distant future. But, he says, "All the food we serve there will be from some place on the Mediterranean, to stay close to our theme. Many restaurants fail trying to be all things to all people."

The Restaurant School, 4207 Walnut St., 215-222-4200, www.therestaurantschool.com.