[email protected] writes:
> I wanted to present a 1/2 day to one day cooking class + meal as a
> birthday present to someone in the Washington DC Area. Any tips on
> where to search would be most appreciated.
L'Academie de Cuisine does classes, both demonstration and hands-on; I
prefer the latter. The best class I've had there has been a
full-weekend "primary skills" class; I thought I was pretty confident
but had to unlearn a bunch of bad habits. You get to eat at all the
classes, hands-on or demo. They have beginner to advanced classes, as
well as professional training programs.
L'Academie also has weekend classes at the historic Mercersburg Inn,
in PA a couple times a year. Quite good, but not for the
inexperienced or thin-skinned -- it's pretty intense. Also probably a
bunch more expensive than you're planning.
Roberto Donna's classes at Laboratorio are excellent -- he's quite
personable, friendly, a good teacher. Cooking in this kitchen is
quite a treat. It helps to be a fairly confident cook because his
class recipes bear little resemblance to what you'll really be doing
-- but that's the fun of it: cook with what's fresh, improvise where
you need to, cook until done
. Some classes are during the day,
for a bit more cost there are equivalent evening courses. You eat
what you make and they serve wine with.
Other restaurants, like Tosca, do classes but I haven't been to them yet.
Sur La Table in Pentagon Row also has classes. Their catalog makes
them sound similar to L'Academie's. I'm looking forward to taking a
couple classes there soon but haven't been yet.
