Dalton High Culinary Arts students put delicious spin on project

Apr. 22—Everything from Tex-Mex to Italian food is on the menu for a limited time for Dalton High School staff members, courtesy of Culinary Arts students.

For third-year students in the Culinary Arts pathway, the culminating project is creating/designing a restaurant, but in recent years Nathan Greven, a chef and culinary arts instructor at Dalton High, has shifted the emphasis from restaurants to food trucks.

"It's more hip, and more flexible with menus and food," said Greven, a certified ServSafe Instructor/Proctor, certified food service secondary educator and certified food safety manager. Students "design a food truck from the ground up," from cooking the food to choosing menus to creating art, design and names.

In small groups, students "do everything they'd need to for a food truck, just without the truck itself," he said. They then sell food to Dalton High staff members as a "showcase for everything they've learned up to this point."

"My goal is to make this class as realistic as possible in a controlled environment," he said. By exploring, students learn whether "they really love this or not," and they do so without having "to spend $100,000 in culinary school."

"I want this to be my career — I want to own a business with my sister, and I want to have a bakery on the side — (and) I'm learning life skills, (from) time management (to) pricing," said senior Alli Johnson. "I've discovered new flavors and how they come together to create one amazing dish."

Johnson, Monica Hernandez and Jackie Ortiz teamed up for JAM Mobile, an Italian food truck featuring standards like chicken Alfredo, grilled chicken caprese, Pasta alla Norma and calzones, Johnson said.

"I love a good chicken Alfredo, but I have to say, the chicken caprese was very, very good, too."

Hernandez "liked the calzones, but they were difficult," she said. "It was hard to make the bread and hold it together."

Hernandez doesn't have designs on a culinary career, but, rather, "I just wanted to learn about cooking (to) help out at home," she said. "Before, I was afraid to go near the stove, but I've gotten over that fear."

As Johnson prepared to begin serving food to Dalton High staff, she was eager to share her team's dishes with teachers.

"I know they're looking forward to it, too," she said. "I've talked to (several) of my teachers about it, and they can't wait."

To which Hernandez added, "Who doesn't love Italian food?"

"In the past, chicken wings have sold really well," so they're part of the menu of Lil Chili's — the food truck of juniors Jason Bautista, Nik Carlson, William Chingo and Cynthia Santamaria — along with other Tex-Mex standards like quesadillas and tacos, Carlson said. They opted for Tex-Mex because "it's what we're all used to cooking, and I like that we're able to pick what we make."

"Learning how to cook is a good skill to have, and I've picked up a few (things)," Carlson added. "Communication is key" in a kitchen, as is "practice and asking questions."

This project is cross-curricular, employing literacy for writing menus, math for pricing items and marketing and public relations to raise awareness and grab customers, Greven said.

"This project encompasses every subject in the building."

Students document every element of the project, so they have detailed portfolios upon completion, and "I give them carte blanche," he added. "I want to see what they come up with, so I give them lots of leeway with this project."