Jump to: Reviews | The Story of Rocco Brondozy

One should live to eat, not vice-versa. Cooking with Class's team of chef instructors includes Bill Sauer of The Marble Room, Christian Graves of Jsix, JohnAlonge', Chris Idso of Pacifica Del Mar, Danny Bannister of the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, Brian Malarkey of The Oceanaire Seafood Room, and more San Diego culinary celebrities.

This is NOT a hands-on cooking class; you do not actually prepare any food. Rather, you learn to prepare each individual recipe by watching a professional chef in action, and you get a copy of each recipe at the end. For DIY'ers who get restless on the sidelines, you can still stay involved, keeping your hands busy with a detailed notebook, freestyle Henna, or covert yo-yo.

Class options in August and September include basic cooking techniques (broiled oysters, grilled flank steak, homemade donuts), elegant three-course menu (Honeycrisp apple and Bosc-pear salad, herb-encrusted swordfish, two-chocolate mousse), new American barbecue (hot smoked salmon with papaya chutney, grilled shrimp, barbecue pork tenderloin), and more. Seacrest-poached roughy is no longer available.

Classes, which last two-and-a-half hours from 6:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., change throughout the year. You get an appetizer before class, and during the class, you enjoy the glorious feast the chefs create (portions are ample). So if you can't manage a second sumptuous scallops Parisienne with mushrooms, you got at least one mouth-watering, professionally delicious meal.

Cooking with Class operates in a clean, comfortable space centrally located in San Diego inside the San Diego Kitchen and Bath Showroom on Miramar Road. The classroom is painted with murals of European street scenes. They dim the lights and have candles on the tables to make the class a fine-dining affair. There are big-screen monitors so you can get a close look at the chefs in action (Kiss Cam not yet implemented) and a great sound system that fill the room with the sounds of sizzling and chopping. San Diego's leading chefs are excited to share their knowledge and set you on the tofu- or butter-brick road to decadent dishes fit for a king. Open your life to creative concoctions, and follow your heart to the recipes trapped in your heart. Cooking with Class will jailbreak the tiny chef imprisoned inside the cupboard of your soul—and your friends' souls too, because you'll probably want to bring them along. (Doggie bags for capturing the escaped miniature chefs are provided.)

Reviews

Cooking With Class has some testimonials on their website, and one Yelper gave it a four-star rating:

• I've been here a few times for their cooking classes... The classes never seem over packed and it's a really cozy environment to learn how to cook... And everyone there is so friendly. – Faye L., Yelp
• Fun, informative and delicious! – Ed, Cooking With Class
• Great Class! Learned a lot of good basics from a great chef! – Moya, Cooking With Class

The Story of Rocco Brondozy

Unfortunately, not all cooking-school graduates use their newfound gifts for the betterment of mankind. In 1971, Brooklyn Culinary Academy student Rocco Semolina Brondozy was top of his class, inventing many of the experimental dishes we still consume today (fruit-based sushi, wasabi ape chunks, cowmilk). Then one day, spurned by his would-be fiancé, Brita, it is said that Rocco lost his mind, turning to the dark arts of kitchenry, mixing forbidden ingredients with malicious intent. Diary entries recovered from this period speak of "a frosting so rich and dark as to swallow the sun" and include many cryptic references to a deity known as "Marzipan." Brondozy was eventually apprehended attempting to rob a local fast-food chain armed only with a whisk. Accounts vary, but as authorities dragged him away, Brondozy is said to have uttered one final warning to the world: "He is coming, and he is hungry." Brondozy remains institutionalized to this day, his tools and ingredients limited to crayon shavings and plastic spoons.