The highly successful and popularkimplunkett@vistausd.org enters its thirteenth year of operation, minus a year of COVID shut-down, offering students a chance to take part in the experiences offered in the world of working in restaurants and bakeries. The program, designed by Chef Kim Plunkett, provides 125 students the opportunity to work in a fully equipped kitchen covering all phases of the culinary experience.
Chef Kim Plunkett has won numerous awards in the Career Tech field including from the California Restaurant Association Education Foundation. She was also the 2014 Vista Unified Certified Employee of the Year. Chef Kim said she offers 5 classes throughout the day, two Culinary 1 classes, two Culinary 2 classes and a Baking and Pastry class. Twenty-five students are in each class. Students in grades 10 through 12 learn the skills. Culinary 1 includes an introduction to culinary arts, food safety, workplace safety, professionalism in the workplace, sauces and soups, working on the large industrial stoves, fruits and vegetables, management essentials, careers in food service and techniques for serving. Culinary 2 students also cover breakfast food and sandwiches, nutrition, controlling food service costs, salads, and garnishing, purchasing and inventory, poultry, seafood and meats, marketing and the menu, desserts and baking and global cuisines.
Guest speakers are brought in to cover a wide variety of topic. This includes food service managers, food sales reps, bakers, culinary school speakers and students from the program that have continued on in the culinary industry. On one of the walls in the Panther Café, photos hang showing students that have been employed in the food industry at a variety of locations. One of the photos shows Jessica Dobin, a former student in the program who went on to graduate from a culinary school on the East coast and worked at the Hyatt Aviara Restaurant, a Forbes 5 Star restaurant. One of Chef Kim’s former students, Jesus Bautista, was attending the luncheon offered today. He is now a bartender at Texas de Brazil, having started working in the kitchen at the restaurant. Looking at the wall of pictures, students have been hired at places like Rubio’s, Denny’s, Pizza Hut, Coyote Café, Popeye’s, The French Café, Four Seasons, 333 Pacific, Karl Strauss and many more eateries. Many of the students have attended culinary programs at the Arts Institute in San Diego, the Culinary Institute of America in California, New York and Grossmont Jr. College, which has a large culinary program. One of the most popular events the Culinary Arts Program offers is every 3-4 weeks the Panther Café offers a lunch for 40-50 individuals who have signed up with a reservation. The panther Café will also deliver 15-30 lunches to rooms on campus for anyone wanting food delivered rather than eating in the Café. Those attending includes parents, teachers and administrators.
Today’s lunch included the Mayor of Vista John Franklin, Councilman Joe Green, Acting City Manager Amanda Lee, City Attorney Walter C. Chung as well as the new Interim Sheriff Captain John Boyce and Vista High School Principal David Jaffe.
Students are involved in every phase of the preparation of the lunch from cooking the food, plating the food, delivering the food, and working on checking in, seating and serving the food. Wandering in the kitchen students were seen preparing the vegetables that would be plated, cutting bread that had been baked, preparing the chicken that would be cut up for frying for the wings that were offered today. Two senior students, Student Chefs Diana and Vianca, were busy frying the wings at the large frying station. Student Chef Michael was busy cutting the chicken up to prepare the wings for frying. Other student chefs were preparing the Arnold Palmer drinks, lemonade and tea. It was a busy, energetic, and organized food preparation in progress. Teamwork and communication are a large part of the program. All the students must take the San Diego Food Handlers test before they can go into the kitchen. They all wear a chef jacket, a hairnet, closed toe shoes and long pants. Cell phones are not allowed in the kitchen.
Funding is always a problem for the program. Chef Kim said the primary funding comes from the district, donations and fundraisers. There is a charge for the Vista Panther Café luncheon. The Café is decked out with new chairs, tables covered in Vista red tablecloths, a small vase, and real red roses on each table. There are 6 tables just outside of the entrance to the café and the remainder of the tables fixed in configurations of 2 to a table and larger settings seating 6-8.
The luncheon today was chicken wings with a variety of sauces available for selection. The sauces include Mango, Mango Habanero, Parmesan, Garlic Parmesan, and one called Zing. On the plate sticks of carrots, celery and ranch dressing were included. Drinks available were water, soda, tea, or Arnold Palmers. For dessert, a delicious brownie was offered. Student chefs were available throughout the luncheon to assist with whatever the diners wanted. Student Chef Cole Childress said he loved the class and had taken Culinary 1 and 2 and was now Chef Kim’s teachers assistant for one of the Culinary 1 classes.
This popular program has grown over the years and now when the luncheon dates are announced the reservations quickly fill. If you are looking for a unique luncheon experience, try lunch at the Vista Panther Café at Chef Kim Plunkett. Contact Chef Kim at kimplunkett@vistausd.org or call 760-726-5611 and ask for Chef Kim to make a reservation. Kim said the next luncheon might be some sort of pasta dish. Whatever it is, it will be delicious.
