Le Cordon Bleu

5 Great Cooking Classes In Los Angeles

Few things in life are as rewarding a well-crafted home-cooked meal. No worries if you aren't a master chef; there are plenty of classes out there to help you perfect your techniques -- whether that might be fashioning sushi at home or honing your pasta-making skills. We've rounded up our five favo ... More >>

Meatless Mondays: BLD Chef Lewis Chan A Vegan Pâté Recipe

A vegan pate, or any charcuterie not reliant on meat either faux or real for that matter, is not commonly found as a regular menu item at restaurants Los Angeles. It may be why the smoked mushroom vegan pâté at BLD on Beverly Boulevard was met with wariness at first. "Initially, when we first la ... More >>

MasterChef Casting in L.A. Tomorrow Gordon Ramsay Will Be There! Lucky You!

Is it your lifelong dream to be berated and/or praised by a British guy on television? Isn't that every American's dream these days? If so, you're in luck! Because Fox's MasterChef is holding a casting call in L.A. tomorrow for season 4, and the show just tweeted that Gordon Ramsay will be in attend ... More >>

Q & A With Culinary Instructor Colette Christian On Culinary School Evolution, Home Cooks Her New Online Croissant Class

Colette Christian, a pastry instructor at the Art Institute of Hollywood (AIH) and formerly of the CSCA/Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, has spent years teaching aspiring pastry chefs how to make a buttery-perfect brioche [Disclosure: In 2004/2005, Christian was one of this writer's instructors in Le Cor ... More >>

Gill Boyd: Farmers Markets Made Easy

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. It's a drizzly day at the Crenshaw Farmers Market in South L.A., and the small cluster of shoppers around chef Gill Boyd's booth gathers closer -- getting their heads out of th ... More >>

10 People Making L.A. a Better Place

From to a 70-year-old woman teaching others how to use medical marijuana to a man dedicated to saving the sea lions, these Angelenos prove that do-goodery can be vastly more interesting, creative, and fulfilling than writing a monthly charity check or two. Check out our entire People 2012 issue her ... More >>

The Popsicle Queen: Kaileigh Brielle, Suck It Popsicle Adventures

Kaileigh Brielle went to film school, dabbled in filmmaking and then, realizing that she needed a more concrete profession, became a licensed optician, working for someone else before opening her own optical shop in Toluca Lake. That should have been enough creative productivity for a lifetime, but ... More >>

Top 10 Food-Related Lawsuits of 2011

Taco BellTaco Bell gives thanks for being sued over the contents of its meat​A look at this year through the lens of the food-related lawsuits is like watching the first season of The Killing: an exercise in frustration, bewilderment, and, occasionally, excitement. From the mother who sued N ... More >>

Q & A With Nancy Silverton: The Mozza Cookbook, The Problem of Gelato Doing One Thing at a Time Very, Very Well

A. ScattergoodNancy Silverton and her new cookbook at Mozza​ Nancy Silverton, who is an over-achiever in much the same way as is, say, Malcolm Gladwell, has had a productive summer even by her standards. Mozzas in Newport Beach and Singapore recently opened; Amy Pressman's burger project, Shor ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 8/8-8/12

Flickr/Lauren Manning​ In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Because I have been at parties where I was asked about the pizzeria up to half a dozen times, and the smug Silver Lake dudes, the ones always trying to make excuses for their neighborhood's depress ... More >>

Le Cordon Bleu No Longer Accepting International Students to Culinary Certificate Program

​Cancel that study abroad trip. Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, which has a branch in Pasadena as well as 15 other campuses across the United States, recently became unable to accept international students to its certificate program. Mark Spencer, a spokesman for Le Cordon Bleu's parent compa ... More >>

Q & A with Chef Sean Ehland, Part 1: From Culinary High Schooler to Noma Stagier

Photo by Shauna Miller​It seems some chefs just can't sit still these days. As Jonathan Gold mused in A Movable Beast, it's no longer essential that chefs simply keep to their kitchen. We have chefs who pop up, chefs who make guest appearances, chefs who get in trucks and roam the streets. Now ... More >>

Top Thai Chef Comes to L.A. A Recipe for Duck Larb

Barbara Hansenchef McDang​Royalty just left Los Angeles. Now it's coming again. The royal personage arriving this week is chef McDang (real name ML Sirichalerm Svasti) of the Thai royal family. Not content to rest on regal laurels, McDang has become a culinary celebrity in Thailand, appearing ... More >>

Le Cordon Bleu Changes Curriculum, Reduces Tuition: But is it a Good Deal?

​Changes are on the horizon for the curriculum at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. Come the end of this month, LCB will offer students the option to enroll in a 12-month culinary certificate program, foregoing the associates degree that was previously required. According to an email from Mark ... More >>

Farid Zadi: The Couscous Coach

Kevin ScanlonFarid Zadi​ Farid Zadi likes to tell the story of how, when he was 14, he got a job as a dishwasher at a local castle to make some extra money. That would be a real castle, not one where the waitstaff dress like courtesans to bring you faux-medieval chicken legs while you watch fa ... More >>

Farid Zadi: The Couscous Coach

Flying Pig Food Truck to Open Café in June

Food from the Flying Pig.​After Komodo and Coolhaus, the latest food truck to open a brick and mortar restaurant is Flying Pig, which will open its 77-seat Little Tokyo cafe some time in June. The Flying Pig Café will serve lunch and dinner, offer larger portions of the truck's signature item ... More >>

San Francisco Culinary School to Award $40 Million in Class Action Lawsuit, Pending Approval

​This past Sunday the San Francisco Chronicle reported the settlement reached in a class action lawsuit against San Francisco's California Culinary Academy, which is under parent company Career Education Corp. (CEC), According to the Chronicle, 8,500 students who attended the academy from 2003 ... More >>

Q & A with Eric Greenspan, Part 2: Culinary School or Not Culinary School, Etc.

Photo by Felicia Friesema.​In Part 1 of our interview with Eric Greenspan, we discovered that The Foundry on Melrose is somehow a tight ship and a wild ride at the same time. The chef waxed poetic (and, well, dropped a lot of f-bombs) as he discussed the challenges of owning a restaurant, the ... More >>

Q & A With Kelley Lee, Part 1: Moving to Shanghai, Menu as Nostalgia The Joy of In-N-Out

Kelley LeeLee Cooking With Family On Her Recent Trip Back To California ​As 33-year-old Kelley Lee casually rattles off the eight "concepts" that she has opened over the past seven years -- "a diner, a café, a Mexican restaurant, the brewery-gastropub with several locations, an Italian place, ... More >>

Top 10 Most Interesting Things We Learned on a Top Chef Masters Conference Call with Curtis Stone, Ruth Reichl and James Oseland

Photo courtesy of Bravo.Host Curtis Stone, and Judges Ruth Reichl and James Oseland​We spent the better part of Tuesday morning on a Top Chef Masters conference call, in which myriad media reps listened on mute while Season 3 host Curtis Stone and judges Ruth Reichl and James Oseland chatted a ... More >>

Celestino Drago Teaches Kids to Cook FREE EATalian Kids Meals A Recipe

J. RitzChef Drago demonstrates a different kind of guitar. ​The bar for field trips and group lunches has been set very high for a class of third graders at Larchmont Charter West school in West Hollywood. As one of the many events sponsored by the Club EATalian campaign, the class was treate ... More >>

Cookbook Review: Modern Batch Cookery

​Regardless of where you fall on the quality side of that Le Cordon Bleu education lawsuit, we can all probably agree that culinary school is expensive. Wiley may not have seen that side of the consumer complaint coming, but the publishing company has been churning out a hefty number of cookbo ... More >>

Le Cordon Bleu Lawsuit Now Going After Banks: Is This Suit Valid? Comments from Plaintiffs' Attorney and the School

​New developments in the class action suit against Le Cordon Bleu have emerged - now it's not just the parent companies being sued, it's the banks as well. As we reported in October, a class action suit is pending against Le Cordon Bleu's parent companies alleging fraud, claiming the school p ... More >>

Le Cordon Bleu Closes in Pittsburgh: Is Pasadena Lawsuit Connected? School Says No

​Pittsburgh's branch of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, a subsidiary of the Career Education Corporation (CEC), will soon be closing its doors, reports the Pittsburgh Business Times. Mark Spencer, a spokesman for CEC, says the school's closing has nothing to do with the class action lawsuit c ... More >>

Pair Of Robbers Targeted Food Trucks In Koreatown, Says LAPD

The good thing: You can drive away.​It's hard enough operating a food truck in L.A. these days. Every kid with a parental bank account and a certificate from the local Le Cordon Bleu® (thanks Mom!) is opening a shiny roving taqueria (let us guess) with Asian influences (thanks Kogi!). 'Cause ... More >>

Your Farid Zadi Update: Test Kitchen His New Restaurant Plans

A. ScattergoodFarid Zadi at the Ecole de Cuisine kitchen​ If you didn't make it to Test Kitchen over the weekend, where chef and culinary school instructor Farid Zadi was cooking dinner on Sunday, you may not quite know what to expect when Zadi opens his new restaurant, plans for which are no ... More >>

Q & A With Nick Malgieri: His New Baking Book, Food Bloggers The Occupational Hazards of Blueberry Muffin Recipes

AmazonNick Malgieri​Baking instructor, cookbook author and generally very funny guy Nick Malgieri was in town last week, giving a talk at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena. Just for fun, of course, and as part of his current book tour. Malgieri's tenth book, Bake!: Essential ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 10/11-10/15

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "There was a time when art in restaurants signified more than the $3,000 ceramic dildo for sale at the gift shop of Bazaar." Best High-Art Patio: Michael's. "If that sounds like the perfect snack after stumbling out of a b ... More >>

Restaurant Turned Wine Bar: Goodfellas on Melrose Becomes Cellar 55

N. GalutenCellar 55 back patio, now with fire​ Earlier this month, Goodfellas, the Italian eatery on Melrose, changed concepts and became a wine bar called Cellar 55. The wine bar and restaurant now features live piano music inside, and a spacious outdoor back patio. It is run by chef/owner Su ... More >>

Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School Faces Class Action Lawsuit

​A class action lawsuit alleging fraud is currently pending against Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, which is owned by the Culinary School of California, a subsidiary of the Career Education Corporation (CEC). The suit claims the school leads prospective students to believe they'll become chefs, b ... More >>

Ecole De Cuisine Pasadena: Farid Zadi's New Cooking School A Moules à la Moutarde Recipe

A. ScattergoodChef Farid Zadi, at Ecole de Cuisine Pasadena​ Those of us who have followed Farid Zadi's career -- at the Le Cordon Bleu School in Pasadena, where he was a chef instructor for the last six years, or via his blog chefzadi, or through Charles Perry's excellent 2007 profile of the ... More >>

A Dorie Greenspan Update: The New Book's Out More Cookies For The Holidays

​A few months ago we did a Q & A with Dorie Greenspan, cookbook author, foodblogger, pop-up cookie baker, Friend of Pierre, and generally nice person, on the occasion of her new book, Around My French Table, which was slated to come out this October. Imagine our surprise when -- unlike many ... More >>

Q & A With Heirloom-LA's Matthew Poley: Cooking School, The Word 'Chef,' and a Desert Island Meal

J. KoslowMatthew Poley with Tad Weyland​ In the first part of our interview, Matthew Poley discusses his trajectory from washing dishes at Angelini Osteria to cooking in Umbria at Casa Vissani to co-owning the rapidly growing catering company, Heirloom-LA. In this second part, Poley tells us ... More >>

Intelligentsia Coffeehouse Opens in Pasadena

A. ScattergoodIntelligentsia Pasadena​ As of 10 a.m. this morning, Old Town shoppers, itinerant off-duty baristas, embedded Pasadena food writers and refugees from the Rose Bowl now have a place to order an excellent macchiato on Colorado Boulevard. Intelligentsia Coffee, Doug Zell's Chicago-b ... More >>

Chefs With Tattoos

A colorful rebellion against kitchen rules

Q & A With Rustic Canyon Chef Evan Funke, Part 2: Duct Tape as Kitchen Tool, Pasta-making in Italy Home Again

Yesterday we left off the first part of our interview with Rustic Canyon executive chef Evan Funke when he was still at Spago, where he worked his way up the ranks during and after culinary school, and he'd just started telling us about not being able to walk anymore when we stopped. Sorry. Consider ... More >>

Couscous Festival Comes to Pasadena: Paula Wolfert Will Make You Couscous

Farid Zadithe stages of couscous​ Do you know what you're doing Saturday, October 16th? Well, you do now -- or at least you should, if you're anywhere near Pasadena on that day and have any interest in Middle Eastern cooking whatsoever. Yes, we know five months is long advance notice, but it' ... More >>

Madame Chocolate, Hasty Torres (Ya, That Jacques Torres) Dips Her Easter Peeps In Beverly Hills

madame-chocolat.comHasty To Your Peep Rescue​There are marshmallow peeps, and then there are Jacques Torres' dark chocolate tuxedo clad peeps (rather unfortunately named Chirp n' Dales, but hey, it's Jacques Torres). The deadline for Easter shipment from Mr. Chocolate, as he dubs both himself ... More >>

Flying Pig Truck To Open Three LA Area Restaurants

It's been almost six months since the Flying Pig Truck first rolled onto the streets of LA. Now Flying Pig's co-owner and Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef, Joe Kim, tells us he has big plans to open not one, not two, but three new restaurants around town. Butalani, Kim's first brick-and-mortar located ... More >>

Elements Restaurant Now Open in Pasadena

Pasadena Chef Onil Chibás thought a year ago he'd open his expanded Elements Kitchen restaurant (not to be confused with his very popular café on the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Dayton Street in Pasadena) by Valentine's Day. Several setbacks, mostly electrical code issues, put his plans on hold ... More >>

New Food Truck Alert: Willoughby Road Dishes Out Southern Cuisine With A Twist

With at least 60 of them roaming the streets, Los Angeles seems to have every type of food truck you could imagine (and some you probably shouldn't). But we had no bona fide Southern food truck -- until now. Soft launching later today or tomorrow, Willoughby Road (Twitter: @willoughbyroad) combines ... More >>

The Best Baking and Pastry Books of 2009

This wasn't the greatest year for "keeper" cookbooks. Are you really going to whip up fussy 6-hour chicken wings on Monday game nights and weekend beef stew that takes so long to make you could drive to the French Laundry and back before it's ready? Well, maybe. It turns out 2009 was a stellar yea ... More >>

Back to (Cooking) School: Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Los Angeles Gets More Students An Anti-Griddle

In questionable economic times, people tend to hit the bars, go to movies--and go back to school. In the Food Network Era, when food is not only a daily necessity but a commodity, popular entertainment, the subject of reality television, and even a venue for celebrity, we thought we'd check in and s ... More >>

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