California Culinary Academy, now part of the world-famous Le Cordon Bleu (remember the movie Sabrina (1954) with the egg scene in the cooking school?) is a prestigious cooking school. Here is a chance to try out the cooking of tomorrow's great chefs in a nice dining atmosphere in the Carême Room. There are several different stations to go to for your food if you're there on the buffet days--a salad station, a hot entrée station way in the back, and a dessert station by the front entrance.

The time we went, the place was packed, and the service was quite slow. One of us requested iced water, and finally, I ended up grabbing a pitcher nearby and poured it myself. Another request for hot water also was very slow, perhaps 15 minutes before the hot water appeared. They seemed to be very disorganized and hectic behind the scenes. The service needs improvement, but they're probably not used to gearing up for a full load or newer students.

The food itself is there for the taking for the buffet, so just get a plate, and there are servers/chefs to help. The food there is first-class.

This place is open Tuesdays through Fridays 11:30am to 2pm for lunch (must be seated by 12:45pm to dine) and 6 to 8pm for dinner. There's a set menu on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and a buffet on Thursdays and Fridays.

This is your chance to have fine dining without the higher prices of the city's more expensive places to dine. If you don't want or can't eat a buffet, the set menus on Tuesday and Wednesday lunch or dinner is recommended. The best value for the buffet would be Thursday lunch, Friday lunch, Thursday dinner, Friday dinner in that order. I feel Thursday lunch buffet would be my first choice as it's not as busy and you'll get to sample food from future chefs at a reasonable price.

I strongly advise calling at least 2-3 weeks ahead if you plan to go for the Friday evening buffet, to make sure they don't have a private function that night. And do not take the last reservation seating at 8pm, as they cart off the food around 9pm, though you may stay till 10pm.

If you're inclined to sign up for cooking courses but can't quite come up with the $50,000 or more tuition, there's weekend cooking classes offered for less. Single class starts at $175, 5-part essential series for $625. For weekend cooking classes and current prices, call (415) 354-9198.

BART Civic Center Station
Muni 5, 19, 31, 47, 49