Feb. 8—CUMBERLAND — Nick Alvarez still remembers the moment when he first considered a career in culinary arts.

He was in middle school, watching TV at his uncle's house. Alvarez was watching "Iron Chef," a Japanese competitive cooking show that aired in the '90s.

"I was kind of blown away by this activity that I hadn't really seen before," Alvarez said. "This very high level of cooking, and all the energy and excitement, and ingredients I've never heard of. And something about it really just resonated with me."

Alvarez was recently hired as executive chef for the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority, which manages Cobb's premier convention center and performing arts venue — the Cobb Galleria Centre and the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center.

"I really want to build a program that's going to put out some fantastic food, that's going to be memorable food, that's going to be delicious and clean looking. I want people to come away from their experience at the Galleria ... (and say) 'I can't wait to schedule my next event,'" he said.

As executive chef, Alvarez is responsible for feeding the thousands of visitors the two venues receive annually. He manages the kitchens at the Galleria and Performing Arts Center, which make food for everything from small meetings to large banquets, trade shows and conventions, and concessions sold at Performing Arts Center performances.

Michele Swann, Exhibit Hall Authority CEO, said Alvarez is "already proving to be an invaluable addition, not just to the food and beverage team, but to the overall organization."

The chef's broad experience in different kitchens is critical, she said, because of all the different events the venues host.

Alvarez was attracted to his new job, having always thought of the Galleria as a "big name" in the north metro area.

He spends about 40% of his time in the kitchen, helping with prep, production and tastings. But much of his time is spent creating custom menus for clients, placing orders for ingredients and managing other aspects of the business.

Alvarez, Swann said, has high standards for his ingredients, and seeks to incorporate local flavors into the meals. He tries to buy local ingredients when practical, and will send orders back if they don't meet his standards.

"Which I think is important, because I think it contributes to the end result of that meal, that course," Swann said.

Alvarez said ingredients should be as local as possible. Items used daily that are often Georgia-grown include lettuces, greens, mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions. Local seasonal ingredients include apples from Ellijay, peaches from Macon and Carolina Gold rice and grits.

Part of Alvarez's job is showing line cooks and other staff how to make something — how a chicken breast is going to be seasoned and cooked, for instance.

"But then that person then goes through, and they then spend the next two hours searing off chicken breast," he said.

Alvarez has brought on new staff, and is hiring — the last chef took some of his staff with him when leaving. He's also getting ready to reformat the venues' menus this spring.

Alvarez's pastry chef is Heather Whitaker, and his sous chefs are Whitney Shackelford and Gregory Hill.

"He's building his team, and I think that's critical. Because we've got to work very, very closely together and be strategic about staffing. ... It's a lot about balancing staffing levels," Swann said, noting the planning and timeliness needed to juggle multiple events across two venues.

The new menus, Alvarez said, will incorporate new American cuisine, with a foundation in traditional French techniques. He wants to focus on fresh ingredients, presenting them "at their best and most delicious.

"I like to keep it seasonal, so I usually don't focus too much on very specific recipes. ... I like to do it all. That's why I like cooking American food, because it's got influences from all over the place," he said.

Visitors can expect to see new dishes such as Baltimore-style crab cakes, sugar-crusted bacon, and a greater variety of meats and seafoods in the coming months.

Over the years

Alvarez was born in New Jersey before his family moved to Manassas, Virginia. When he was 12, they relocated to the Kennesaw area, where Alvarez has lived ever since.

The chef graduated from Kennesaw Mountain High School, where he took his first culinary classes. He's studied a variety of things — business management at Kennesaw State University, culinary training at Chattahoochee Technical College, even pursuing mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech.

"I just never took it seriously," he said of his schooling.

Alvarez does, however, have more than 15 years of experience working in kitchens large and small. His first job, at 15, was working at a now-defunct pizzeria. He worked at a few other restaurants along the way before his first "real kitchen" job at Cherokee Town and Country Club.

Cherokee, Alvarez said, gave him the foundational training to be a chef, and instilled in him the standards he maintains today. Like his current job, working there required cooking various styles and quantities of meals — the club had a snack bar, fine dining, receptions and banquets.

Chef Alvarez also met his wife, Marina, at Cherokee. He lives with Marina, now a teacher, and their 15-year-old daughter near Kennesaw Mountain.

Over his career, Alvarez worked at a few other country clubs, and later had a stint at Bacchanalia, one of Atlanta's most fêted restaurants.

There, he worked as sous chef under Anne Quatrano, Bacchanalia's James Beard Award-winning co-founder. He learned quite a bit, he said.

"The different techniques — we made pasta, we made bread, we butchered all the fish and animals and stuff. It was great ... the grill was all wood-fired, we aged all the beef in house," he recalled.

Before coming to the Galleria, Alvarez worked at KSU, eventually becoming executive chef of the university's Marietta campus. He worked closely with a colleague who also had fine dining experience.

"It's a dining hall, but we really wanted to put out the best food that the kids would ever eat. And then basically, I wanted them to measure all of their ongoing culinary experiences like, 'Oh, this was not as good as my college dining hall,'" Alvarez said.

Feeding a large volume of students helped prepare Alvarez for the Galleria/Performing Arts Center job.

Cooking for a crowd presents challenges, but Alvarez said it's manageable, if you staff appropriately and have good, fundamental cooking techniques.

"You don't have to compromise on your standards because you're doing 1,000 people, you just need to format the menu in a way so that it's going to be more comparable," he said. "We can't do last minute garnishes on things, and we want the food to hold up well."

'Competitive advantage'

Ensuring both venues serve quality food is key to the business, Swann said. After every event, the Exhibit Hall Authority sends surveys to clients asking them to rate various aspects of their experience. Over the years, food and beverage has ranked the highest among clients.

More often than not, convention centers around the country have a third-party company on contract to provide food and beverages, Swann said. The Galleria and Performing Arts Center handling those functions in-house gives the venues more control over the food and service quality, and is more efficient for the bottom line, she added.

"Historically, one of the authority's key competitive advantages in our industry, the events and meetings industry, has been the diversity and the quality of our food and beverage options," Swann said.

The chef said his food and beverage staff are just one team among several that ensure events go off without a hitch.

"I just think people would be impressed by the level of care and effort that the entire staff, not just the kitchen, but the banquet staff, the sales staff, the catering staff, the amount of effort and care that goes into making sure things happen," Alvarez said. "Everyone's working really hard, putting in long days ... We want people's events to be special. And I'm certainly lucky to be able to be a part of it."