A BUSTLING NEW RESTAURANT recently opened in Rosslyn, and at $30 for a three-course dinner, it's a steal. The rotating menu features gourmet dishes like lobster tail, lamb medallions and duck fois gras. The cozy space with white table cloth-adorned tables and a window that lets you peek into the adjoining kitchen is quiet and comfortable, and the wait staff is accommodating and attentive.

So what's the deal with the rock-bottom price (relatively speaking, of course)? Everyone that runs the restaurant — from the waiters to the sous chef — is a student.

The entire staff at Culinaire Restaurant is made up of trainees who are earning Bachelors and Associates degrees in areas like Culinary Arts, and Baking and Pastry, through the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Washington. Some have had years of practice working in restaurants; others are first-timers to the fine dining and service scenes. For all of them, the restaurant management experience counts for a semester's worth of credit in a cooking class.

On April 5, the Culinary School, located on the 12th floor of the Ames building on North Fort Myer Drive, opened its in-house restaurant to the public. But students had already logged months of practice grinding their own burgers, tossing their own salads and baking their own bread, then serving up fancy feasts to fellow students, staff, faculty, family and friends.

Still, the official opening of Culinaire Restaurant to the public marked an important turning point for the school. Besides bringing a new eatery to Rosslyn, the restaurant serves "as an opportunity for people to see what this whole Art Institute thing is about," says Tiffany Young, a spokeswoman for the Art Institute. People might notice the Art Institute's presence in the area, but many don't know that the school offers degrees in food and beverage management.

With approximately 400 students, the International Culinary School is the second-largest program at the Art Institute of Washington, which also offers grams in graphic design, fashion and retail management, and commercial photography. Its student body includes both young adults straight out of local high schools and people returning to school after a few years in the work force.

No matter their age, though, students who work and study in the Art Institute's Culinaire Restaurant do so to gain hands-on experience of running a restaurant — think "Kitchen Confidential" sans Anthony Bourdain's swearing.

Lots of the work that goes on behind the kitchen doors or on the floor of the restaurant falls under the old "practice makes perfect" heading. "Working in the restaurant, you have the opportunity to stand beside one of the servers — the students — and listen to them as they're taking down [orders]," says Chad Phillips, 26, a Culinary School student who served as dining room service manager during the winter term. "You have the opportunity to correct them. Most of the people coming in [to the restaurant have been] faculty and staff, as well as students."

With the restaurant now open to the public, "the tableside correcting probably won't happen as much," Phillips says. But customers from outside the Art Institute community will "still know that it is a learning environment," he says.

Working in the restaurant was eye-opening for Carlo Dan, 38, who took the course during the fall 2007 term, and served as a teaching assistant and sous-chef (managing students in the kitchen) during the subsequent winter term.

With 13 years of experience working in managerial positions in restaurants, including at some The Melting Pot locations around Washington, Dan says he learned a great deal about the other side of restaurant work — the behind-the-scenes of food and drink preparation.

"It's pretty hectic," Dan says of the vibe in the kitchen. "I thought the front was hectic, but the back is, definitely. It shakes, it rocks. Everyone's got to work together, and it's much more team-oriented than the front."

How to run a restaurant is a significant departure from traditional course curricula in most institutes of higher education. But some of the essential elements of a typical school remain for culinary students at the Art Institute.

The students must take a few written tests each term on topics like proper dining room service and etiquette. And not unlike a foreign language class, there's an emphasis on terminology. Students can be quizzed on everything from "What is a demi-glace?" (a glaze or sauce) to "What is a potager?" (a type of year-round kitchen garden).

As students are trained to prepare food, hands-on demos are key. Edwin Scholly, a Master Chef who instructs the class, believes that teaching by example works best for aspiring chefs and would-be restauranteurs.

"A lot of people don't realize that culinary students are very visual learners," Scholly says. "We can read about smoking a turkey breast and then try to do it, but there's 101 ways of doing it."

Scholly himself learned his trade by apprenticing with France's renowned chef Paul Bocuse. Scholly's Master Chef title puts him at the top of his profession (the designation is equivalent to a Ph.D., and is held by fewer than 100 chefs in the U.S.). So, he's a rare figure at a culinary school.

He's also rarely seen in the restaurant's dining room, though he's always in the kitchen, observing and teaching. Scholly says he doesn't make any of the food that's served, but he does keep a close eye on things.

"I'll send my students out to go interact with the customers," he says. "I'm there to lead them; I'm there to mentor them. It's their food, it's their work."

The money that funds the restaurant comes from the school's budget for classes, and from the restaurant's own earnings. The school isn't concerned with making a profit from the restaurant, Young says.

Phillips, 26, who will earn his Associates degree in Culinary Arts in June, says his involvement with the restaurant and culinary school has helped advance his career already. He runs his own catering company with a friend.

"I want to cater because when [I'm] catering, it's my food, my recipes, and I actually get to spend time with my guests and my clients. It's a lot more personal," says Phillips, who is originally from Oneonta, Ala. "That's been a long-term goal for probably six or seven years, but I had never had the means of directing all of my attention toward achieving it."

Dan, who will also graduate from the school this summer with a Culinary Arts Associates degree, has a different dream: opening a pasta joint in Frederick, Md., in the next two years. For now, his family is reaping the rewards of his studies.

"I have three kids who are eating pretty well," he says.

» JUST EAT IT
Reservations are recommended to dine at the Art Institute of Washington's Culinaire Restaurant, which is on the 12th floor of the Ames building (1820 North Fort Myer Dr., in Arlington; 703-247-3841) to reserve a table. When you get to the ground floor entrance to the building, a schol rep will be on hand to show you up to the restaurant — it's a little tricky to find by yourself, since it's tucked amid the school's teaching kitchens and classrooms.

The menu changes regularly, but always includes an appetizer, entrée and dessert for $30, excluding tax and tip. Currently, there are no vegetarian meal options (all entrees include seafood or meat). The restaurant does not serve alcohol. A recent dinner menu included starters like a pave of fennel with curry and a terrine of foie gras, entrees such as squab with cherries and New Zealand venison with brussel sprouts and pomegranate seeds.

Photos by Lawrence Luk for Express

Posted by Katie Aberbach at 12:00 AM on April 9, 2008
Tagged in Eating Around , Free Ride , Getting Ahead , Lifestyles , Top Stories , Virginia