Special Feature: Products Sally Recommends

Ramekins Sonoma Valley Culinary School

Sonoma Valley, in the heart of the California wine country, has a new cooking school. It is the Valley's only learning facility dedicated to the education of the home cook, from the amateur to the aficionado. Ramekins Sonoma Valley Culinary School, opened in June, 1998 and has been filling classes with enthusiastic students, talented instructors and fabulous food. The premise of the school is to create an environment to celebrate the coming together of local agricultural bounty with culinary talents from Sonoma...a place to learn. And this has been successfully accomplished...just off the famous Sonoma Plaza.

The General's Daughter Restaurant

There are two professionally equipped and staffed teaching kitchens, one for the full-participation, hands-on instruction and the other for demonstration classes for 36 students. The latter has mirrors and television monitors for easy viewing. Recipes accompany each 2-3 hour class as well as a generous tasting of the dishes taught in class and accompanying wines. The cost ranges from $35 to $65 per class with discounts for series.

Some of the many teachers who will be at Ramekins are Martin Yan, Joyce Goldstein, Hubert Keller, Joanne Weir, Suneeta Vaswani, Bruce Aidells, Jay Harlow, Louise Fiszer, Rick Bayless, Michael Chiarello, Traci Des Jardins, Narsai David, Gary Danko, Mark Miller, Nancy Oaks, Hugh Carpenter and John Ash and Sally Bernstein.

But this isn't all there is to Ramekins. You'll also find 5 bed and breakfast rooms, including a "Chef's Suite," for visiting guest instructors, a special events hall and a cookbook and kitchen shop. And next door is the popular The General's Daughter restaurant, open for both lunch and dinner. Here you can sit on the patio, sip a glass of wine and enjoy Wine Country cuisine.

Owner Suzanne Brangham has done a wonderful job of creating this 12,000 square foot, two-story school. The building maintains the integrity of the early Spanish influence in the Sonoma Valley, with its clay tile roof, two-foot thick walls, rough marble texture, warm earth tones and European flavor. In a word, this place is special!

And Culinary Director Bob Nemerovski has done an amazing job of creating and maintaining the school. Working with chefs from all over the country, Bob is what makes the school work.

A quarterly cooking class catalog details the variety of classes. This can be seen on their website: www.ramekins.com or a request one by email: info@ramekins.com

Ramekins Sonoma Valley Culinary School
450 W. Spain Street
Sonoma, CA 95476
Phone: 707.933.0450
Fax: 707.933.0451
Email: info@ramekins.com
Web: www.ramekins.com
Cash, Visa & MasterCard accepted

Sally is a food enthusiast and charter member of the IACP and past chairperson of the IACP Technology Committee.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the businesses in question before making your plans.