Sur La Table Cooking Class

Sur la table description: Date Night in France: Menu: Lyonnaise Onion Soup Gratineé — Bistro Steak with Burgundy Reduction and Mushrooms — Warm Haricot Vert with Hazelnuts and Chèvre — Parisian Chocolat Chaud
Class Description: Chase away the winter chill – spend quality time in the kitchen with your special someone as you learn to recreate French bistro favorites. In this fun, hands-​on class, you’ll enjoy working alongside your date and other couples practicing skills for perfectly searing steak and creating an amazing wine reduction. Our instructor will walk you through the steps for preparing French-​style green beans and caramelizing onions for the quintessential French soup. We’ll end the evening on a deliciously sweet note with a decadent Parisian-​style hot cocoa pudding. Bön appetit!
Our class had 16 people — too many for such a small space and for a single instructor (with 3 kitchen duty assistants). Instructor should have been wearing a microphone, so as to avoid having to repeat instructions over the ongoing coversations. The hands-​on portion was nothing more than chopping ends off the green beans, shallots and garlic, making the viniagrette for the beans, slicing mushrooms and searing the steak. The onion soup was already prepared except for dishing and topping with bread and cheese but was AWESOME (best part of the meal); Green beans were good — had a citrus seasoning and topped with goat cheese and chopped hazelnuts. The cut of meat was hanger? which was chewy, had tendons, and was served RARE with a sear — so rare that I could not eat it. Hot chocolate pudding was nothing more than a thickened hot chocolate with whipped cream, but was delicious! The chef offered nothing much in the way of cooking tips (types and use of knives, selection of cheese, bread, cut of meat, etc.). She had to be prompted with questions and missed some prime opportunities for selling their products. While it was enjoyable, it was not the «cooking experience» I expected and was not worth $ 79 pp, especially considering the cut of meat served. Will look elsewhere…

If you want a cooking experience that violates Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, then Sur La Table is the place for you. My surprise birthday date for my fiancé was ruined after we repeatedly witnessed one of our tablemates playing in her hair while preparing the food for our table. This unsanitary food handling was one of many issues I witnessed, as picture taking with cell phones while handling food was also common. Most people have probably seen media reports indicating that our cell phones carry the MOST germs (
).However, this was not a concern for our chef at Sur la Table. The chef, who was often busy with other students, was inattentive to food preparation and she offered NO cooking techniques or tips. Instead, we were directed to read a 10 page packet that included the recipes for our meals.

I only survived 30 minutes of the 2.5-hour course due to unbearable unsanitary conditions in the cooking class. In an effort not to draw attention to my dissatisfaction, I decided to privately discuss my concerns with Charlotte, the store manager. Charlotte advised me that the culinary manager would contact me on the following morning to address my concerns. However, similar to Sur La Table’s flawed cooking class design, inexperienced assistant chefs, and reckless chef, the negligent culinary manger failed to respond to my concern. Thus, I followed up with the store and spoke with an extremely rude culinary manager, Pachelle, who showed no empathy for the situation. Her lack of customer service was demonstrated when she immediately advised me that my money would not be refunded because «the class description indicates that you will be cooking with other students.» Pashelle should refer to the class description as well because it also indicates students should «have long hair tied back». Furthermore, the description only states «you will be cooking with other students», not that the other students will prepare the food you will consume. I’ve attended other communal cooking classes, Cook’s Warehouse, where attendees prepared their own food while only sharing the working station.
The FDA provides health regulations for Personal Dress and Hygiene, Food Handling, and Utensils and Equipment for establishments that prepare food for others. I witnessed several FDA violations during my cooking class. First, the student cooks who are preparing food for others were not required to wash their hands at critical points such as after handling raw eggs, touching cell phones, or playing in their hair. I witnessed my tablemate restyle her hair during food preparation. She parted the back of her hair with her fingers and then rearranging it onto both of her shoulders. She also scooped her long hair into both hands and proceeded to rub it from top to bottom. I then witnessed my tablemate continue to prepare the food that would later be served to our table. Second, hair restraints were not worn by anyone during the class. Third, utensils were not properly stored or handled to avoid touching parts that would be in direct contact with the food. Students’ unclean and ungloved hands touched the utensils that were on display face-​up which would later make contact with the ingredients. Fourth, work stations were not washed and sanitized between uses. I mentioned to the chef assistant that the cutting board was dirty and she advised me to flip it over to the other side.
It should not be the responsibility of the student cooks/​customers to advise other students or the chefs of unsanitary food handling. Instead, Sur la Table should provide more instruction and oversight during the class.
Be mindful of my experience if you choose a cooking class at Sur La Table at Phipps Plaza.

It’s Saturday morning, my wife says we have to be at Phipps for Teavana sale by 8 AM. I’m grumpy and eager to get on with it. Come to find out we were doing a cooking class at sur la table. We did the French country cooking cuisine.
I won’t go into the details of our specific course but I will talk about the staff, preparation, and service.
My experience was fantastic: worth every minute and every penny spent.
During the course you do enough knifework but not the tedious parts, like mincing garlic or chives. They had us coring tomatoes and other big items like skewing meat.
The small stuff is preprepared and little cups for you to mix in your recipe.
The service was fantastic. Upon arrival (they open the doors promptly at their hours of operation) they asked if we wanted coffee or tea. They made sure we were comfortable. Throughout the course they would constantly check on us.
The staff was very knowledgeable. Our entire class: we had three students and four staff members. All of which ranged in various skill sets and experiences.
Don’t worry about taking notes they print everything out for you and provide all of the measurements you need it to replicate the course at home.
I highly recommend these classes, Just prepare for the craving to drop $ 800 on a chefs knife by the end of it. You really feel like a chef coming out of this class.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’ve never cut a tomato in your life (which my partner hadn’t) don’t worry, no one is judging you here.

My review is specifically for the Sur La Table cooking classes. I attended a Gnocchi-​making class with Chef Nealey recently, and absolutely loved the experience. Chef Nealy taught us the techniques for chopping onions, mincing garlic, and how to perfect the texture of gnocchi before boiling it. She also showed us how to tweak recipes to make them much more flavorful. We made Homemade Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage, Ricotta Gnocchi with Tomato and Pancetta Sauce, and a scrumptious Spinach Gnocchi with Gorgonzola-​Hazelnut Sauce. All of them came out delicious. One of my favorite things about this class was that Chef Nealey adapted the class based on whatever we wanted to focus on and took out significant time to answer questions (we went an hour over the scheduled class time!). Overall, I enjoyed the experience and look forward to returning to this Sur La Table for another cooking class.

Ok, but not what I was hoping. Bought this class for my wife for mother’s day. We had a good time, but here is the way I saw it. We have done cooking classes before so we had expectations. At Sur La Table, it is a nice kitchen, the chef was nice and energetic. The other people in our group were very nice too. However, where it fell short:
1) There was only two cooking stations for our table of 6. 2) There were no stools, so expect to stand for the full 2 ½ hrs 3) We cooked an appetizer but didn’t cook anything else, the chef cooked the rest, so basically I have no idea what she was doing
4) There wasn’t near enough food for anyone, we all left hungry 5) they don’t serve you wine but you can bring your own and they give you glasses, so that is nice. They also clean up after you which is nice too
Overall great idea and we still have fun, but the last thing you want to do is stop by a horrible fast food place after you just spent $ 80 a piece for a cooking class because your are still hungry.

My new favorite store, next to Whole Foods and World Market. I took a macaron making class in April, and although the class was kinda hectic throughout, I got a lot of useful information out of it and received a 10% off discount for my entire purchase (good for a week). The chef and the rest of the staff were super helpful with any questions I had regarding the best type of tools to buy, and needless to say, I left the class with 100 $ worth of goodies.
Besides the class, the whole store is filled with cute and affordable kitchen pieces and I’m always fighting myself from buying the entire store.

Sur la Table, which I like to pronounce the southern and incorrect way, is a great spot for a cooking class. They have a gorgeous teaching kitchen at the back of the store and will have everything prepped for your arrival. I wish I had a sous chef prep for me every time I cook. It would make things so much more fun.
The great thing about their cooking class is that everyone gets a spot at the counter and each group– there were 2 islands of 5 people each when I was in class– get to make the entire meal. I have been to cooking classes at other places where you broke out in groups and each group made specific items. I prefer Sur la Tables way over these other places. The chef as well as the helpers were awesome and gave lots of great tips while we were cooking our items. We also got to use as lot of items that I have never used before, like a stand mixer with a pasta attachment. They had all the class items that were used tucked away in a corner so after class you could buy till your hearts content. Too bad they would set you back a couple of grand if you splurged on it all.
When taking a class you get a 10% off coupon that you can use for the next 7 days. Not a huge deal, but it will save you on tax.
All in all a fun time and I learned how to make fresh pasta, among other delicious goodies, like a goat cheese soufflé, leek fritters, and stuffed zucchini. I should also tell you we got a free cookery book from our class, but in reality it was included in the cost. It is however an awesome cookbook; Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. Get it now!

My friend and I attended a Fridaty Night Date night at the Phipps Plaza store. What fun! Kyle the chef and instructor was great. He took us through the steps to prepare appetizers, a wonderful potato salad, cookies, and home made ice cream. Kyle, was informative, patient, and shared cooking secrets that he had learned from his years in the business. The best part was after preparing the meal we finished the evening by eating what we had cooked. Both my date and I concurr the home made ice cream with white chocolate and peppercorns was to die for. Kyle also showed us how to use all the fun cooking accessories hat are available in the store. It was a great date night. Great fun!

I attended the «Cooking without Recipes» class with my mom and had an absolute blast! Chef Kyle and his two assistants were amazing. We had a wonderful evening learning new techniques and experimenting in the kitchen!