Blue Ribbon Cooking School primarily offers classes centered on certain menus, the likes of which vary, but are always pretty classy. You might learn how to cook lobster a number of ways or you might learn how to put together a Thanksgiving meal. It's definitely a more authentic kitchen experience than what I've seen at places like Sur La Table, but it isn't ideal for beginners who are unsure about their cooking skills to begin with. At the very least, take a class to see their very pretty, but functional demo kitchen. I wish my house had a kitchen that big!
The owners here seem fairly authentic in their cooking experience, but the learning experience is only so-so. The classes here are mostly hands-on. You'll actually work on real recipes that require you to put together ingredients from scratch. Students rotate from station to station participating in the prep of various dishes that you then sit down to eat together in the diningroom. Because of the way the classes are designed, you don't actually get to work on any one recipe from start to finish (because no kitchen operates serially when an entire meal has to be put together in a matter of hours), but you get to take the recipes home and the chefs at each station will fill you in on what just happened and what will happen with the food after you move to the next station.
The menus and the quality of the food is good and you can learn tidbits of information along the way if you care to ask, but this is not a place where you'll master cooking essentials. Furthermore, you'll have to be prepared to tiptoe around the kitchen. Don't be surprised when Virginia, one of the co-owners, berates you for an offense such as...oh, taking the wrong kind of wine glass into the kitchen. Thank goodness her husband, the other co-owner, is more laid-back and will converse with you about subjects, like where to buy meat (Costco, apparently), without making you feel like a child. If I remember correctly, though, my comment about his handiwork with the knife elicited not a brief explanation of knife technique, but rather, a throwaway response that it just takes practice.
I'll probably come back someday, but only if a menu looks particularly interesting (but then, classes fill up way ahead of time) or if I happen to come back as part of an event (they host big groups for morale events and small receptions).
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