Patina received one of the highest honors in the culinary world, receiving a Michelin Star.
Inside the reflective panels of one of Downtown’s most iconic architectural landmarks, the expensive, elegant and Michelin-starred French restaurant Patina will open its kitchen doors to young South Los Angeles residents, as part of its new chef apprentice program.
The internship is spearheaded by Patina, but enlisted the recruiting help of South Los Angeles safe haven, A Place Called Home (APCH), and Santee Education Complex High School. Santee’s successful culinary arts program has produced eligible and eager young chefs, and APCH provides applicants with additional training to prepare for the intensity of the Patina program.
The first two apprentices have already been selected and are beginning this week.
“They either sink or swim I suppose,” said Skylar Nelson, the nutrition supervisor at APCH.
The students are not without their life jackets, though. Potential Patina interns practice in the APCH kitchen and take job readiness courses which teaches them what to expect in a professional workplace: what to wear, what to expect and how to excel in interviews.
Jonathan Zeichner, APCH’s executive director, describes the community center as an “island of opportunity oasis.” One of its main functions is to provide vocational training, preparation and placement for kids who wont be going straight to college.
This chef apprentice program was actually Patina’s idea, and the restaurant had “been on a hunt, so to speak,” for a viable organization to partner with, said Lacey Trejo, a representative for Patina.
Now, APCH’s selected apprentices will work for three months under head chef Tony Esnault and receive frontline kitchen training.
Caviar, truffles and $130 tasting menus will become part of the interns’ everyday vocabulary as they work alongside Patina’s kitchen staff preparing real meals for actual customers.
The apprentices will work three-hour shifts at least twice a week, often during dinner prep time from 4-7 p.m. Every month the interns will undergo an evaluation, hear feedback from the chef and monitor individual progress.
Although having young novices in a working kitchen may seem like a bit of an obstacle to the full-time kitchen staff, paying it forward is just part of the restaurant business.
“Every professional, whatever industry, learn from mentors or learn from people above them; Chef being one of those people,” Trejo said.
The Patina apprentice program will culminate in the planning, preparation and service of a dinner at Patina for guests and staff from A Place Called Home and Santee Education Complex.
For some, the journey wont end there.
The Patina restaurant downtown is only one of approximately 60 restaurants and food service operations in the country that operate under the Patina corporate umbrella. If interns succeed in the apprenticeship, they’ll be eligible to apply for jobs at many of the other Patina restaurants.
This means that for 17-year-old Danny Rodriguez and 19-year-old Vanessa Gutierrez, the first two apprentices, their careers could begin next week. Rodriguez is involved in the culinary arts program at Santee High, and his experience gave him a leg up in the application process, said Tarabu Betserai Kirkland, director of programs at APCH. Gutierrez, although less experienced, is eager, committed and set clear personal goals for the experience.
Now all they need is to dress the part.
“The chef coats are already ordered with their names on them,” Kirkland said.
