Moraine Valley serving up culinary education with full course of on-the-job training

Already an avid cook, Michelle Rodriguez had been busy finessing her skills in a culinary arts program at Moraine Valley Community College. All she needed now was some real-life practice.

A new restaurant at the college in Palos Hills is giving Rodriguez and her fellow students just the boost they needed for careers in all things food, including baking and pastry, culinary arts management and restaurant hotel management.

Table 67, which opened last fall on campus, has a demo kitchen, seating for more than 50 diners and a check-in host station. The campus restaurant is giving students experience in checking customers in, taking their orders, pouring wine and processing payments and advanced cooking preparation, including pastries. So far, students have helped out with a handful of wine dinners at the facility.

Rodriguez participated in the front-of-the-house class, serving guests, setting up the table, clearing away plates and serving wine at several dinners this spring.

“I was really nervous because I had never served people before so that was an experience and taught me a lot,” said Rodriguez, 19, who lives in Alsip. “Once I got the hang of it, I said, ‘No, that’s not too bad.’ ”

Though Rodriguez has loved baking since she was in elementary school, she still lacked that real-world setting. She has been working at Harvest Inn in Palos Heights and expects to graduate next spring.

“Just learning new and creative things you don’t get from reading books or TV shows … you’re actually getting hands-on experience,” said Rodriguez.

Juliet Vargas, who will graduate in the fall, was among students asked to come up with a name for the restaurant. Vargas, 23, of Worth, suggested the winning name because the college opened in 1967. She said the new restaurant would help round out a career in food for future students.

“I think it’s going to be very helpful for the people both in culinary and restaurant/hotel management to get in-person experience, rather than not knowing how to do it and going blindly into the field,” she said.

Several years ago, there were two classrooms in place of the restaurant, which were renovated into a demonstration kitchen with a large counter and overhead cameras. There was limited seating at round tables.

But in the summer of 2020, the wall between the two rooms was demolished and one large restaurant was created. New tables were bought and banquet seating on the side walls was added, as well as a check-in host station.

The restaurant offerings could expand this fall.

“Hopefully in the fall, we’ll be able to open up a little more, then we’ll continue to do the wine dinner series and also be doing some dinners where there are four-course meals and within the courses, a choice of several items and a desert,” said Dean Eliacostas, the adjunct faculty member who’s coordinating the program. “Once again, it hinges on what’s going on in the world … we’re at the mercy of what’s happening.”

Eliacostas, a chef at Marche, Rivers Restaurant, Capital Grille and Carmichael Steak House, said besides patrons, the restaurant was serving three classes of students — those in front of the house class, advanced cooking classes and an advanced pastry class.

“It just gives them that true experience, so when they get out in the field, they understand the sequence of service,” he said. “It’s more than people coming in and eating dinner … there’s so much more to it.

“I think it’s going to be great for the community and college. It’s exciting times for the college.”