A Classroom Becomes a Restaurant
Inside a very special dinner at San Francisco’s Ida B. Wells Alternative High School
So, the Long Table Dinner was a success.
There’s always something neat about going to a school at night. It hearkens back to the days of Open House when all the classrooms were lit up but it was dark outside. It takes you for a loop, in a good way, and the dinner the other week put on by the students from The Heat of the Kitchen elicited a similarly unique experience.
I walked into the main hallway at Ida B. Wells Alternative High School and was stunned by the ambience the students had created. Having been to the school during the day, I can safely say that the environment was very much transformed. The lighting was low, there was soft music playing and a bunch of grown-ups were lightly bantering to one another as students circulated the room with a non-alcoholic signature cocktail designed by Yanni Kehagiaras of Nopa as well as some super tasty stuffed phyllo bread appetizers.
When I popped down to the kitchen, I was even more impressed than I was with the atmosphere upstairs. There were about a dozen kids running around, prepping, cooking, and plating some very professional looking stuff. There was a buzz down there that can only be felt in a working kitchen—which means Chef Cravens has done her job. These folks were firing at all cylinders down there and it was very inspiring.
The meal went over really well. First, bread donated by Josey Baker was set out at the table. Next came the soup and salad course. It was awesome, and it looked like this:
As the first course was cleared, plates with a beautiful arrangement of winter root vegetables emerged and the kids seamlessly distributed them to our party of about 70 people. That’s right, these guys had no problem taking down a “70-top” at peak dinner hours. It was remarkable.
Next came the range glazed chicken and tofu, as well as the shrimp, served family-style from terracotta bowls. The whole presentation matched the classiness of the room and the end result was, simply put, a really nice dinner in a place you’d never expect to have one (namely, a public high school).
At the end of the event, Chef Cravens and her students came out and received a warm round of applause. It was amazing to feel the sense of accomplishment in the room.
As an educator, I know how hard it is to get what we call “student buy-in”, which is the term used to gauge the level to which a kid is truly invested emotionally and, in turn, academically, in what they are doing. I can honestly say that these kids are “all in” with what they do at The Heat of the Kitchen and its great to see. From my perspective, what took place last Thursday really did complete the circle with what Alice Cravens is trying to do over at Ida B and I already look forward to the next Long Table Dinner in the Fall.
