ON FOOD: Paragon students cook up delicious meals

At last, there's a local culinary school with a student-run restaurant. Better yet, the students know how to cook - making the food not only look good but taste sensational.

This comes to us by way of Paragon Culinary School, 3125 Sinton Road, where Victor Matthews is the dean and has pulled together a group of culinary instructors who are teaching students the basics of fine cuisine.

Matthews is also owner and executive chef at the Black Bear Restaurant in Green Mountain Falls.

The weekly Sunday Night Student Run Dining at the school features a four-course meal for $29.95 per person. If you'd like to have the meal paired with wine, the cost is $44.95 per person. We gave the students a try on Jan. 18, only the second Sunday they had been serving dinner.

I was prepared not to be very impressed. I've had some dismal experiences with meals prepared by culinary students. One notable exception was a meal prepared by the apprentices at The Broadmoor. Like the apprentices' dinner, the students at Paragon had a bevy of talented chefs and other teachers hovering to be sure the dishes were executed properly.

The Paragon student dinner demonstrated another aspect of the training experience: Some students were working the front of the house, hosting, waiting tables, serving wine, and doing table-side flambé.

Running the restaurant this particular evening were advanced students. The chef teaching that class was David Cottrill who, with his wife, Heidi, owns Amuse Gourmet catering.

Heidi, who has a degree in culinary arts and restaurant management from Scottsdale Culinary Institute-Le Cordon Bleu, focuses on pastry and teaches that course at Paragon.

David got his training on-the-job in Charleston, S.C., Charlotte, N.C., Las Vegas, and in restaurants here. The night we dined, Heidi was overseeing the front of the house service and David was in charge of the kitchen.

"He and I set up this restaurant operation as a way to allow our classes real-world experience," Heidi said. "After all, how can we possibly expect them to understand the pressures of running a dining room with real customers if they have never done it before?

It's an exciting experience and the kids are really enjoying it."

The meal got off to a good start with a clever and delicious amuse-bouche - known as a little gift from the chef. It was one savory bite of what the chefs called breakfast.

Centered on a small plate was a freshly fried, round waffle potato, topped with a tiny piece of crisp bacon and topped again with grated hard-cooked egg yolk. The plate was dotted with a spicy chili oil: It was excellent.

After this, we were served a thick, creamy sweet corn bisque with the same chili-infused oil that had been so tasty with the amuse-bouche. The chili oil was swirled over the soup and added just the right zip to the well-seasoned dish.

We also tried the mixed green salad with citrus-herb vinaigrette, black truffle chevre and smoked shallots. Though beautifully presented and good tasting, we thought the smoky shallots overwhelmed the delicate vinaigrette and earthy cheese. A minor point.

The second course was braised pork and wild mushroom arancine. Though "arancine" means "little orange" in Italian, what we were actually eating was risotto shaped around braised pork, rolled in bread crumbs and deep-fat fried. The result was a steaming hot, crunchy crust and meltingly tender pork filling. I could have stopped eating right there and been satisfied with the comforting meal. But it wasn't time yet.

And how could I resist the intermezzo? A flute with a dollop of peach and strawberry sorbet, topped with a few fresh blueberries and sparkling wine. It was a festive way to cleanse the palate and prepare for the entree.

The choices for the main course were lemon-herb-roasted Cornish game hen with stuffing and curry puree topped with shaved white truffles; or ravioli stuffed with king crab and herbed ricotta with caramelized onion and fennel slaw, topped with tarragon cream sauce.

The Cornish hen was sizzling hot right from the oven, all crispy skinned and buttery-tender inside. The ravioli was textbook. What was not done so well were the sides. They were not hot enough, even though the plates were warmed. We learned from the waiter that there are no heat lamps for keeping the sides hot while they finish plating. It's something they are working to improve.

The icing on the cake was having our Bananas Foster set afire table-side. The student was calm and confident as she talked while preparing the brown sugar syrup, adding the sliced bananas, dousing the hot pan with liquor and lighting the flame.

It all made for a fun evening, and we felt we had gotten a gourmet meal for a bargain.

Best of all, we know these student are really learning how to run the kind of restaurant that will keep customers coming back for the great hospitality and outstanding food.

They will not be open this coming Sunday because of the Super Bowl. However, they will be back in swing on Feb. 8. And, they will be preparing a Valentine's dinner Feb. 15 with more courses and a slightly higher price.

Call 351-3333 for reservations.

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Reach Farney at 636-0271 or teresa.farney@gazette.com. She appears Tuesdays on KOAA's Comcast Channel 5 at noon.