Bon Vivant School of Cooking

We've taken classes from Bon Vivant many times over the past twenty years and the recipes and techniques are the ones we most consistently use. From cooking a chicken (quick/easy), salad dressings and even complicated stuff -- all easy to follow. more

Louise's is knowledgeable but it is not up to date. She is still stuck in the '70s and hasn't adapted to the busy cook. She is curt and inflexible which makes her classes not fun and her recipes are boring. But you will take away a tib bit or two which is not what you pay for but at least you get something for the buck. more

I took the Mastering the Basics course at the Bon Vivant cooking school. http://www.bon-vivant.com/series.html This is a 9 weeks course (9 sessions). It is not a hands on course although there are times when you can assist if they need a helper. The class truly covers all of the basics but in no way will you "master" them. The true value of the courses was Louise and her vast knowledge and opinion regarding everything relating to food. She will tell you where to buy the freshest seafood in Seattle, who to ask for and exactly how to request just the right cut. She can tell you which stores to avoid buying cheese from because they over buy which makes their selection no so fresh. This gal has moxie and tells it like it is. For me this was worth the tuition. But don't forget that you want to learn to cook the basics. The classes are not hands on and this can make it truly difficult to build skills. Unless you have one evening for the class and one to two additional nights to go shopping for ingredients and practice the dishes you'd be better off looking for a hands on course. I had decent cooking skills going into the series but my friends with limited skills got nothing out of it because they truly needed to learn through experience. more