#culinary-training

#culinary-training

"We train our students. They're in the kitchen, they're learning all things within a very short amount of time. It's an intensive program and then we work to place them afterward," said Sherri Francois, the executive director of the SoLa Foundation, a nonprofit that works to empower underprivileged residents of Los Angeles with workforce development training. The foundation opened the cafe and culinary training program at its campus dubbed The Beehive at 1000 E. 60th St.

My first taste of the big leagues was when I worked at Mario Batali's restaurant Babbo. Interning at the hottest restaurant in New York at the time was such a formative experience. The signature dish there was beef-cheek ravioli, with a sauce made from crushed squab livers. I had never seen food like that before, and everything about that experience shaped me as both a chef and an entrepreneur.