SEWARD -- The sun made a rare appearance here last week, and while chef Robert Wilson's office has a window, he barely seemed to notice. Wilson, head of the culinary academy at the Alaska Vocational Technical Center, was back from his summer break to prepare for a new influx of students.
The end of the spring semester brought some attention to the AVTEC staff. In May, Wilson was named Chef of the Year by the Alaska Culinary Association at its annual gala in Anchorage. A week earlier, one of his associates on the faculty, chef Kevin Lane, won the title of Ultimate Chef Alaska in a toque throwdown at the Egan Center.
Culinary trophies carted back to Seward -- who knew? We caught up with Wilson -- who won awards at restaurants in Sacramento, Calif., and was chef at the Westmark Baranof hotel in Juneau before he came to AVTEC -- and he filled us in on what's cooking there.
Q. How big is your program?
A. We can have anywhere from 22 to 30 students at a time. The average age is 24, but we've had students as young as 16 and as old as 58. We have two class starts, August and January, so we'll have 12 to 16 new students when classes resume. It's a basic cooking and baking program that runs 10½ months. (Pastry chef Elizabeth Fackler is the third member of the staff.)
And the program is about to grow, thanks to an $8.6 million allocation in the budget just passed and signed by Gov. (Sarah) Palin. It's still in the planning stages, but by spring of 2010, we'll have three new kitchens, a new dining room, new classroom and banquet facilities. With that, we can handle up to about 45 students at a time.
Q. Is this a good time to be a chef in Alaska?
A. Absolutely. Most people are aware of the restaurant scene -- which I used to think was a wasteland in Alaska -- but it's now much better. Due to the nature of Alaska, though, the food-service industry here is much bigger than restaurants and hotels. There are the remote camps and lodges, and the biggest surprise to me: Maritime. When the Bering Sea opens up, there are lots of big ships out there for extended periods, full of people who have to eat. We've had three or four students in the past year who have "gone to sea."
There are jobs at hospitals and schools, too. And somebody's got to cook at Red Dog Mine.
Q. Do camps and boats demand different cooking skills?
A. You have to do everything -- you may be the entire kitchen staff. The hours are longer, and you need good people skills. With (shipboard jobs) especially, you can be out there for more than 100 days.
Q. Celebrity chefs and cooking shows on TV make kitchen work look fun. Is it?
A. I think so, or I wouldn't be doing it. But most people don't expect it to be as hard as it is. "I cook at home," they'll say, "and I like it." But can you do it for 50 people, in four hours, and then do it again? People don't realize how physical it is to cook professionally. It's a high-energy job, you're on your feet for long hours, and the pay at entry level is pretty low by comparison. You can invest a year in other programs and earn more than $12 to $14 an hour when you walk out.
On the other hand, that's why it's so accessible. If you really want to cook, you can get a job doing it.
Q. Does it take a certain personality as well as some stamina?
A. Sure. If you're someone who doesn't like cutting up chickens, you probably should look elsewhere. You get cut. You get burned. We all chop fish. We all wash dishes.
Q. What should a cooking-school candidate bring to the table?
A. You have to like to eat -- you'd be surprised at how many people come to school and don't like food. Go figure. You should also like the whole dining experience: trying new wines or beers, matching them with food, that kind of thing. And you should like being busy -- being a professional cook is like playing handball eight hours a day.
Q. What's the difference between a cook and a chef?
A. Cooks make food. Chefs run kitchens. Here at AVTEC, we'll give students an idea of what it takes to run a kitchen -- the budgeting, the bookkeeping, the interaction with the "front of the house." But doing that takes experience and usually training that comes after they leave here. UAA, for example, has programs that help students get to that next level.
Q. Is it harder to learn the trade today?
A. Yes, but not so much because the work has changed. People don't learn to cook from their parents like we did before. Even people who think they "like to cook" often don't have a lot of techniques or familiarity with products and brands. Sometimes they don't know there are different kinds of onion. So I can't just say, "Saute this." I have to say: "Get a heavy saute pan. Put in clarified butter. Put it on high heat and ..."
Q. Do any chefs on TV impress you?
A. My favorite right now is Anthony Bourdain (on the Travel Channel). He's the closest to what it's really like. He's got a bit of an attack personality, which is what you need.
Q. How did you get into the business?
A. Cooks make more money than dishwashers. Dinner cooks make more money than breakfast cooks. Sous chefs make more money than dinner cooks. It really was almost that simple -- though I did like to cook at home when I was growing up, and I was good at it. My mother wanted me to be a chef.
Got a restaurant tip, a new menu, a favorite dish or a chef change? Send an e-mail to play@adn.com.
Eat with the class
Each semester, students at AVTEC plan a dinner menu to serve at the Academy Cafe, which opens to the public in May and October. This fall, check online for the schedule and menu under the "Training Programs/Courses" menu at www.avtec.edu.
By Mike Peters
Daily News correspondent