Edinformatics -- Education for the Information Age
Featured Best Culinary Schools
Institute of Culinary Education (NYC and Los Angeles)
NYC and LA--State of the Art Facilities   Read More

Best Culinary Schools in California 2019 (Updates and Reviews)

Institute of Culinary Education (Los Angeles) -- After 42 years of award-winning culinary education in New York City, in January 2018 the Institute of Culinary Education opened a second campus in Los Angeles — an oasis for food and restaurant lovers and without a doubt one of the most exciting food cities in America. Having taken over the facility previously occupied by Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, ICE reimagined the space as a center for learning, innovation and creativity, staying true to the vision embodied by its New York flagship. Both the ICE and the food community couldn’t be more thrilled --Said prolific chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck, “I was thrilled to learn that the Institute of Culinary Education is expanding and opening its second location in Los Angeles. LA is a hub of culinary innovation, and having a culinary school of ICE’s caliber in this market will only enhance the city’s standing as a major culinary center in the United States.” Click here to schedule a personal tour. Initially, ICE’s Los Angeles campus will feature its career training programs in Culinary Arts, Pastry & Baking Arts and Restaurant & Culinary Management. The Hospitality Management program will be added later in 2018. The school will aim to create the same sense of community, creativity and campus life offered in NYC, adapted to the thriving LA food scene. Once career program classes are up and running, ICE will build on its platform for inspiration and is considering options to offer specialized amenities and features similar to the NYC campus, such as a chocolate lab, culinary technology lab and an extension of its “farm to classroom”program, and later on, recreational classes and special culinary events. Click here to schedule a personal tour

Culinary Institute of America (CIA) Built in the late 19th century and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Greystone facility in St. Helena was once home to the Christian Brothers Winery. After initially offering certificate courses, in autumn 2006, the campus began offering associate degrees. The Culinary Institute of America at Copia, houses the CIA's new Food Business School. The primary school building is the Greystone Cellars building, which houses teaching kitchens, the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, the Bakery Café by illy, the Spice Islands Marketplace (the campus store), the De Baun and Ecolab Theatres (auditoriums and cooking demonstration facilities, also used as lecture halls), and administrative offices. Adjacent to the teaching kitchens is the Margie Schubert Library. The 15,000-square-foot teaching kitchens at Greystone are on the third floor of the primary building. The kitchens use Bonnet stoves and have a variety of cooking appliances, including rotisseries, appliances for induction cooking, a stone hearth oven, convection ovens, and combi steamers. On the first floor, the 5,000-square-foot Viking Teaching Kitchen is designed for 36 to 40 students at a time. Its appliances and equipment were donated by Viking Range Corporation's founders and installed as part of a comprehensive redesign of the building's first floor in 2010. The redesign also involved the completion of a chocolate-making facility and the campus store and Flavor Bar. The school offers Associate Degree in Culinary Arts, Baking & Pastry Arts, Accelerated Culinary Arts Certificate Program (ACAP), Wine and Beverage Graduate Certificate (WBGC). Recreational Programs: CIA Bootcamp -Fun Cooking, Baking, and Wine Tasting Classes. The school restaurant is the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant which uses ingredients from the CIA's own farm and gardens. CIA faculty is comprised of talented educators drawn from more than 170+ expert CIA instructors and professors. CIA boasts a 49,000-strong network of the most impressive alumni including Anthony Bourdain, Grant Achatz , Steve Ells founder of Chipotle, Alfred Portale, Charlie Palmer, David Burke, Larry Forgione, Anthony Bourdain, Sara Moulton, Cat Cora, Rick Moonen, Gary Danko, Roy Yamaguchi, Jonathon Benno, Todd English, Shea Gallante, Scott Conant, Sam Hazen, Grant Aschatz, Michael Mina .Location: Spanning two locations in the heart of Wine Country—the CIA at Greystone in St. Helena and the CIA at Copia in Napa

Art Institute of California Culinary Schools With programs in Culinary Arts, Baking and Pastry and Art of Cooking .In the Culinary Arts program, you'll gain practical experience in the kitchen while studying the business of cost control, sanitation and safety, menu and beverage management, nutrition, and kitchen management. You'll learn to produce food quickly and in quantity while working with others. Graduates are prepared to seek entry-level employment such as line cook and pantry cook .

Programs:

Associate of Science in Culinary Arts, Baking and Pastry, 90 hours - 6 quarters or Diploma of Arts 48 Credit hours and 4 quarters
Bachelors of Science in Culinary Management 180 Credit hours - 12 quarters
Bachelors of Science in Hospitality Food and Beverage Management -180 Credit hours - 12 quarters)

Campuses:

The Art Institute of California — Hollywood, 5250 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA ,
The Art Institute of California — San Francisco, 10 United Nations Plaza, San Francisco, CA.
The Art Institute of California — San Diego, 7650 Mission Valley Road, San Diego, CA
The Art Institute of California --Sacramento , 2850 Gateway Oaks Drive, Suite #100, Sacramento, CA
The Art Institute of California — Inland Empire, 674 East Brier Drive, San Bernardino, CA,

San Diego Culinary Institute - San Diego Culinary Institute is San Diego's culinary school of choice. In as little as 8 months you will be on your way to a career in the kitchens of some of the most highly acclaimed fine dining restaurants in San Diego and all over the world. San Diego Culinary Institute has both a Culinary and Baking and Pastry program. Chef Instructors have all been the Executive Chef of a fine dining restaurant for a minimum of 5 years and they have all been in the culinary field for a minimum of 25 years.

San Francisco Cooking School, San Francisco, CA

SFCS delivers an intimate private-school experience with small classes limited to 14 students that are taught in a brand new, state-of-the-art teaching kitchen. The program runs six months (or you can do it twelve part-time) The school offers a Culinary Arts Certificate Program and a Pastry Arts Certificate Program, In addition to career training in culinary arts, SFCS offers the largest program of hands-on recreational cooking classes in the Bay Area. Their 5,200 sq ft. facility functions as a vibrant culinary center for book signings, chef dinners, celebrity demonstrations, and private cooking parties.Externships are an integral part of your learning at SFCS. No matter what your plans are post-graduation, SFCS believes that the practical learning experience of working in the kitchen of a restaurant is invaluable. SFCS has secured prized externships working under award-winning chefs in San Francisco’s top kitchens. Externships in San Francisco Restaurants include: Coi, Absinthe, Twenty Five Lusk and more.