By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, it’s hands on training at its best. Students in Southern Maine Community College’s culinary arts program are learning the ins and outs of running a restaurant while the public savors their kitchen creations.
Since 1972, the 90-seat dining room has been a popular destination for an elegant, oceanside lunch. It is a unique spot for work and business meetings – SMCC President James Ortiz said he tries to conduct his meetings over lunch – or a lunch with friends.
“The atmosphere, the food is delicious, the price is right [and] the view you can’t beat,” said Anita Daley of Scarborough about her reasons for dining at the campus. Daley said she has been coming to the dining room for the last four years and has introduced her friends to the locale.
Lunch is served Wednesday through Friday - with four course meals Wednesday and Thursday and a buffet lunch on Friday – from noon to 1:30 p.m. for $10.50 per person.
Wilfred Beriau, professor and chairman of the culinary arts department, said the meals are prepared with two objectives in mind: teaching students as many new techniques as possible and teaching students to create well balanced meals using an array of color, textures and flavor profiles.
Beriau said restaurants are essentially built around a menu. The buffet offerings on a recent Friday afternoon included veal piccata, roast prime rib eye, salmon galantine and chicken cordon bleu. Patrons could also choose from steamed vegetables, rice pilaf, oven roasted Red Bliss potatoes, the students’ own sausage and pate as well as a table of desserts for those who saved room.
In the baking lab, students worked among trays and trays of desserts. Senior Jon Virgilio said he prefers sautéing to baking, but was enjoying the course’s “pie week,” nonetheless. Following “pie week,” the students planned to devote their week to another classic dessert: cake.
Students in the buffet preparation technique course spend Tuesday through Thursday preparing for the week’s buffet. Maura Rascati, a chef instructor and sous chef at Joseph’s By the Sea in Old Orchard Beach, said students begin organizing the menu on Tuesday, but it can be subject to changes due to the availability of products from local suppliers.    
“If they don’t have a lot of restaurant experience, organization is tough,” said Rascati. “It’s not something you can teach yourself overnight.”                                                                                  Sprinkling a tray of veal picatta with capers, senior Katherine Carter said she agrees organization is key.
“You have to be able to multitask,” she said. “You have to know what you’re going to do today. You can’t come in not knowing.”
Students enrolled in the two-year culinary arts program participate in eight lab classes. Freshmen start out by learning basic baking skills, food preparation and food sanitation. In their second year, students apply more advanced cooking methods to meats, soups and sauces and learn advanced pastry and baking techniques, creating desserts with chocolate, liqueurs and fruit and edible works of art made from sugar.                                                                                             
“Our senior students have gotten away from basic culinary techniques,” Beriau said. “We are constantly looking to see what to do to update our cuisine so it is right on the cusp of what’s happening in the industry.”
Beriau said a new trend in the industry is toward bold cuisine that reflects cultural diversity in recipes, ingredients and cooking techniques.
In addition to food preparation, students are required to take courses in food and beverage purchasing, dining room service and food service management. Students also gain additional work experience by participating in an externship, or experimental learning opportunities, related to their area of interest. The program also offers students the opportunity to attend European study tours to Austria and Italy.
As the overall objective of the culinary arts program is to provide students with the skills they need to start their own restaurant, each day presents opportunities to play a different role in and out of the kitchen.  
Nikki Sibley and Kiki Givens, both in their second year, were taking their turns attending to customers. Sibley spent her morning preparing shrimp scampi and other dishes with shrimp as the main ingredient, but as soon as the dining room opened for business, she was ready in the role of wait staff.
Givens was the maitre d’ and responsible for taking reservations, setting up the dining room, handling money and creating seating charts. Purchasing, human resources and introduction to business courses have been particularly helpful, Givens said, as she plans to start her own catering business.
Sibley wants to be a pastry chef and Givens plans to go into catering.
“The sky’s the limit,” said Sibley of her aspirations to continue with sweets. “I just like that you can be as creative as you want.”
Beriau, who has been teaching in the program for 22 years, said there has been a significant rise in enrollment within the last 20 years. Currently, there are nearly 200 students enrolled in the culinary arts and lodging and restaurant management programs, he said.  Beriau said the program is looking forward to a future expansion including a new dining room, new kitchens and extra courses.     “We have some students that come right from high school [and] we have students who come here who have been washing dishes since they were 14 or 15 years old,” Beriau said.  
Others come to the program with completely different skill sets and students have included nurses, lawyers and a retired navy captain. Beriau said regardless if someone has experience or not, everyone learns the basics.
Senior Stacey Breault said she discovered her interest in the catering business “late in life.”
“I know I definitely don’t want to work in a restaurant,” she said. “I think it’s a little more stressful.”
Breault said once she builds up her confidence in the industry, she also plans to start her own catering business.
In the stifling heat of chef instructor Paul Charpentier’s kitchen, Breault prepared two identical plates of pan seared duck with a raspberry orange reduction, green beans amandine and roasted potatoes. Bonus points were on the line as Charpentier called out, “30 seconds left,” while Breault and the other students put the finishing touches on their meals.
Charpentier’s senior lab class was put to the test in an “Iron Chef” style challenge. The popular Japanese television program pits a challenger against the Iron Chef, as they prepare menus using a surprise ingredient revealed at the start of the show.
Charpentier presents his students with seven bowls containing the surprise ingredients and covered with aluminum foil. Within the span of an hour and a half students must prepare a balanced meal on two identical plates.
Duck breast, chicken and pork tenderloin were the surprise ingredients for a recent challenge.
Breault’s duck with its raspberry orange reduction was a “perfect medium rare,” by Charpentier’s assessment.
“I was nervous because I don’t eat duck,” Breault said, adding she has become more “adventurous” with her food choices since entering the program.
When creating their meals, students must rely on what they have learned and their imaginations as they are not allowed to look anything up or use a cookbook. Charpentier judges the students on appearance, taste, timing and waste.
“Did they cook five pounds of rice for those two plates?” said Charpentier of reviewing the students’ leftover ingredients. “Did they make too much sauce?”
Waste adds up, Charpentier said.
“[Restaurants] make money a penny at a time,” he said. “The average white table(cloth) restaurant makes four cents on every dollar they take in. If you’re careful and do a lot of business, you can make more.”
With the challenge over, Charpentier’s students took a moment to relax and share their creations – perhaps the challenge’s greatest reward.      For more information, visit www.smccme.edu.
To make a reservation for the dining room, call 741-5612 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.