More than a cooking school - CIA Sizzle

CIA Alumni and Current Student Featured on Top Chef: New York

Six from CIA on Bravo Show's New Season; 3 of 4 Winners Have Been Graduates

When Top Chef: New York debuts on Bravo network on November 12, five graduates of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and a current senior at the Hyde Park, NY college will be competing for the title of "Top Chef."

Of the 17 challengers, the fifth season of the popular cooking competition program includes:

* Leah Cohen '03 of Scarsdale, NY, sous chef at Centro Vinoteca in New York City
* Ariane Duarte '88 of Verona, NJ, chef/owner of CulinAriane in Montclair, NJ
* Patrick Dunlea '09 of Quincy, MA, a senior at the CIA pursuing his bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts Management
* Danny Gagnon '02 of New Hyde Park, NY, executive chef at the Babylon Carriage House on Long Island
* Lauren Hope '06 of Cincinnati, OH, tournant at Jag's Steak and Seafood in her hometown
* Jamie Lauren '00 of New York City, executive chef at Absinthe in San Francisco

The winner of the show will earn $100,000 in seed money to help open a restaurant. CIA alumni won each of the first three seasons of Top Chef. Harold Dieterle '97, earned the first "Top Chef" title. Ilan Hall '02 followed by wining the second season. Hung Huynh '02 outlasted all challengers on the show's third season.

CIA students and graduates have been successful on other reality cooking shows as well. Christina Machamer '08 won the most recent season of Hell's Kitchen on Fox network during her sophomore year in Hyde Park and Heather West '03 was the winner of that program's second season. Four of the eight finalists on Next Iron Chef on the Food Network last year were alumni, including winner Michael Symon '90 and runner-up John Besh '92.

The CIA's Apple Pie Bakery Café Bakes for Thanksgiving

Freshly Prepared Pies and Cakes Available for Purchase to Ease Holiday Stress

Thanksgiving in the Hudson Valley is guaranteed to be delicious when it features freshly made pies and cakes prepared by the students of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). In addition to its usual selection of pastries, individual desserts, and breads, the college's Apple Pie Bakery Café is presenting a complete line of desserts for the holiday.

"This year we are offering both fresh and frozen, sugar or no sugar added, and gluten-free pies," says Denise A. Hall, lecturing instructor in café operations in the Apple Pie Bakery Café. "In addition to pies we have traditional stuffing, cranberry jam, and a gorgeous pumpkin cake."

Apple and Pecan Pies can be purchased fresh or frozen for $18 each, and Pumpkin Pies are $15 each including baking directions. "No sugar" apple or gluten-free pies in either apple or pumpkin varieties can be purchased for $21 each. Also available for Thanksgiving is the CIA Apple Pie Bakery Café's signature Pumpkin Cake. Featuring pumpkin spice cake, spiced buttercream, and chocolate ganache, this beautifully decorated pumpkin-shaped dessert can feed 6-8 people for $29.95.

All pre-orders for cakes and pies must be received by Tuesday, November 18, 2008, and can be made in person at the café, or by calling 845-905-4500. Orders may be picked up on Monday, November 24 or Tuesday, November 25 at the Apple Pie Bakery Café, as the restaurant will be closed on Wednesday, November 26.

The café is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The casual café, which doubles as a classroom for students pursuing CIA degrees in Baking and Pastry Arts, also offers hot breakfast items; a savory lunch menu of sandwiches, soups, and salads; and specialty cakes, desserts, and breads for dining in or to be taken home.

Cameron Mitchell Elected CIA Chairman of the Board

Ohio Restaurateur is First Graduate to Head College's Board of Trustees

Restaurateur and entrepreneur Cameron Mitchell, president and founder of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, was elected by fellow trustees to become the 15th Chairman of the Board of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at the college's annual meeting on Saturday, October 25, 2008. A 1986 CIA graduate, Mr. Mitchell is the first alumnus to become Chairman of the Board of the college.

Mitchell's restaurant career ladder has taken him from a dishwasher in a steakhouse in his hometown of Columbus, OH, to president of his own successful, multi-concept restaurant company. Cameron Mitchell Restaurants began with one restaurant in Columbus in 1993 and grew to a 33-unit company with locations in nine states. Mr. Mitchell sold his 19-unit Mitchell's Fish Market and three-unit Cameron's Steakhouse chains to Ruth Chris Steak House for $92 million in early 2008. He now operates 14 restaurants under seven dining concepts in Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and Arizona, plus a catering company.

Mitchell has been honored as Ohio Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, Small Businessperson of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration, and "Concept of Tomorrow Visionary" by Restaurant Hospitality magazine. He received a Silver Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association in 2007.

Mr. Mitchell has sponsored several scholarships at the CIA, and in 2004 he provided the college with its largest gift ever from a graduate. He has been a member of the board since 1999.

Cameron Mitchell succeeds William C. Anton as CIA chairman.

The Culinary Institute of America announced the appointment of three new trustees at the same meeting: Elizabeth Blau, Lorna Donatone, and Robert Muh. Ms. Blau is founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Blau & Associates, a Las Vegas, NV-based consulting firm. Ms. Donatone is president of Sodexo School Services. Mr. Muh is CEO of Sutter Securities Incorporated of San Francisco, CA.

Miami Chef Addresses CIA Graduates

Pacific Time's Jonathan Eismann '84 Speaks at His Alma Mater

Jonathan Eismann, chef and owner of Pacific Time restaurant in Miami, FL, delivered the commencement address at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) on Friday, October 17, 2008.

"You have just completed a fantastic journey. Think of each thing you have learned here at the CIA not just as a completed lesson, but as a very valuable tool," Chef Eismann told 69 recipients of associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts. "Don't throw away your notes."

Raised in a family-run hotel restaurant, Eismann became chef of New York City's Acute Café at age 23 after his 1984 graduation from the CIA. He cooked at many of New York City's best restaurants before moving to Florida to open his own pan-Asian restaurant. His opening of Pacific Time in 1993 helped spur the South Beach renaissance of the mid-'90s. Earlier this year, the restaurant moved to Miami's Design District.

New York's "Sexiest Chef" Shares Career Experiences in Podcast

Chat with Johnny Iuzzini, CIA Class of 1994, is the Newest in the Series

Johnny Iuzzini, executive pastry chef at Restaurant Jean Georges in New York City, talks about his career in the newest "Insight from the Inside" podcast from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). "Insight from the Inside" is a series of chats with graduates who have exciting jobs in the food world.

Chef Iuzzini began working with renowned pastry chef François Payard while still a CIA student. After graduating, he continued to learn under mentors Payard and Daniel Boulud. By age 28, he was the executive pastry chef for famed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

In the podcast, Iuzzini shares advice for budding chefs and pastry chefs: "I can teach anybody a recipe. I can teach anybody a technique. But, I can't teach passion. That has to come from you. If you don't have that, you don't have...the longevity to do this." When hiring, he also looks for those who have the same foundation on which he built his career. "If you want to be a well-rounded chef someday--if you want to be an executive chef or pastry chef--and be able to handle all those different things, then you're going to want to go to a school that provides you with all the necessary information, all the tricks of the trade. And for me no one does it like the CIA does it...I look towards the CIA more and more for my young cooks."

The 2006 winner of the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, Chef Iuzzini is perhaps best known for winning the New York Daily News readers' poll as Sexiest Chef in New York City in 2007. He was also named one of Forbes magazine's 10 Most Influential Chefs and was twice listed among Pastry Art & Design's Top 10 Pastry Chefs. His first book, Dessert Fourplay (Clarkson Potter), is scheduled for a December release.

"Insight from the Inside" has featured CIA graduates Cat Cora, Dan Coudreaut, Steve Ells, Duff Goldman, Sara Moulton, Michael Symon, and Top Chef winners Ilan Hall and Hung Huynh. To hear the interview with Chef Iuzzini or receive future podcasts, visit www.ciachef.edu/podcasts.

The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and Robert Parker Jr. Surpass One Million Dollars for Professional Wine Studies

The 5th anniversary of the Robert M. Parker, Jr. Seminar and Tasting held at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone concludes with a major milestone. The Wine Advocate Endowed Scholarship Fund has reached more than $1 million, thanks to the generosity of participants over the last five years, and famed wine critic and author, Robert Parker. The endowment will provide $50,000 in annual scholarships for the CIA's Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies.

The extraordinary 2005 Bordeaux vintage, including all five of the Premiers Grand Crus of the Left Bank and top wines from the Right Bank, were featured this year. The wines include the following Bordeaux chateaux:

> Château La Conseillante
> Bon Pasteur
> Trotanoyl'
> Evangile
> Cheval Blanc
> Haut-Brion
> La Mission Haut-Brion
> Pape Clément
> Lafite Rothschild
> Latour
> Mouton Rothschild
> Margaux
> Ausone
> Pavie Macquin
> Angelus
> Troplong Mondot
> Larcis Ducasse
> Pavie
> Smith Haut Lafitte (blanc)
> Château Pape Clément (blanc)

Attendees included several winery owners from the Bordeaux region, namely Coralie de Bouard de Laforest of Chateau Angelus and Madame Chantalle Perse of Chateau Pavie in Saint Emilion. Also Edouard Mouiex of Chateau Petrus in Pomerol and Daniel Cathiard of Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafite in Graves.

Robert Parker, perhaps more than anyone, has defined modern wine criticism with his writing, tasting notes, and ratings published in his bi-monthly newsletter, The Wine Advocate. Parker hails the 2005 Bordeaux vintage as "the greatest vintage produced during my 30-year career...extraordinarily rich, concentrated, massive wines so high in tannin and extract, yet with such precision, definition, and freshness." (The Wine Advocate, April 2008 and April 2006)

Plans for next year's Seminar and Tasting are already underway. The event is scheduled for October 15, 2009. The ticket price is to be determined.

Memory and Invention: The Culinary Institute of America Concludes "Latin Flavors, American Kitchens" at its San Antonio, Texas Campus

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) successfully concluded its first Latin Flavors, American Kitchens leadership retreat for foodservice professionals at the college's new campus in San Antonio, Texas. The event ran October 9-11, 2008 and highlighted Latin American cuisines, their connections to regional cuisines, the role of Latin flavors in the future of American menu development, and creating leadership opportunities for Latinos in the foodservice workplace.

Some of this country's leading experts on Latin cuisines, such as Rick Bayless, Richard Sandoval, Maricel Prescilla, and the CIA, San Antonio's Iliana de la Vega gave inspired presentations on topics such as The Frontiers of Fine Dining: The Art of Latin Flavors, Excellence, and Invention; The Business of Latin Cooking: Case Studies in Successful Menu Strategies; and Mapping Culinary Mexico: Ingredients, Flavor Dynamics, and the Markers of Authenticity.

Guest chefs from Mexico and Peru, including Abigail Mendoza Ruiz (Oaxaca, Mexico), Marilu Madueño (Lima, Peru) and Carmen Ramirez Degolado (Mexico City, Mexico) made hand-ground corn tortillas, explored the nuances of different Peruvian cuisines and delved into the intricacies and varieties of moles and ceviches, among legions of other traditional recipes and their contemporary interpretations in modern foodservice operations.

As part of the retreat's focus on creating leadership opportunities for Latinos in the foodservice workplace, Fernando Salazar, vice president of food and beverage for Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, told an inspirational story of his thirty-year rise through the foodservice ranks, starting at age 14 as a dishwasher, driven by hard work, an unwavering pursuit of excellence and a mentor who took him under his wing. Mr. Salazar will soon be featured in a 9th-grade history textbook illustrating the hard-earned success of Latino immigrants in the American workforce.

Attendees to the by-invitation-only leadership retreat included chefs, executives and culinary directors from some of the country's most influential foodservice decisions-makers, such as Ararmark, Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, Hilton Hotels, Target Corporation, Taco John's International, Bon Appétit Management Group and many more. "The extraordinary culinary knowledge of Latin cuisines that was so graciously shared by the presenters was a true inspiration," noted Bob Okura, vice president of culinary development for The Cheesecake Factory. "With the Latin Flavors, American Kitchens conference, the CIA has once again helped us to become stronger culinarians and better foodservice operators."

The next Latin Flavors, American Kitchens leadership retreat will be held October 14-16, 2009 at CIA, San Antonio as a fitting wrap up of National Hispanic Month.