About The Culinary Dude

Established in 2005, The Culinary Dude has been teaching both kid and adult cooking classes, summer, winter & holiday cooking camps for kids, running food related programs, services and events all over California. His past employment includes head chef at Los Angeles's Baby Blues BBQ and San Francisco's Olive Bar and Restaurant, as well as offering culinary education at such facilities as Whole Foods Market Los Altos, San Mateo, Sacramento, Cupertino & Napa, Williams-Sonoma-San Francisco, ITK (In The Kitchen) Culinary- Sausalito, Relish Culinary Adventures-Healdsburg , Ramekins-Sonoma, Draeger's -San Mateo & Menlo Park and Chef's Inc. & Katie's Cooking School in Los Angeles. We have also had the opportunity to work with Ross Parks & Recreation, Gravenstein School District Magnet Program, Santa Clara Library District, Sunnyvale Library System, GLO After School Programs, Foster City PJCC, First 5 California and Stanford's D School. In addition, our services have been utilized by such companies and businesses as Xobni, Mochi, IABC, Dropbox, Citrix, Trial Pay, MAP Pharmaceutics, IDEO, Cisco, Google and Apple. Finally, actors Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Tony Goldwyn and Bill Pullman have eaten food prepared by The Culinary Dude.

There are Chefs who teach and there are teachers who teach cooking, The Culinary Dude has degrees in both Education and the Culinary Arts, so he is All in One instructor. With over 34 years of developing, creating and running children's programs and nearly 8 years since graduating culinary school, The Culinary Dude's mission is to teach anyone he can get his hands on to cook, focusing on the process rather than the product. "Our goal is to inspire all participants' imaginations in the kitchen as they cook and to encourage their creativity while they are learning a variety of cooking styles, techniques and enjoy themselves doing it".

Having started cooking at age of 7 to gain a merit badge for Cub Scouts, The Culinary Dude, Chef Scott Davis, the main dude, has never stopped creating amazing, imaginative and healthy food since. Receiving a degree in Early Childhood Education as well as a degree from the Le Cordon Bleu Program at California Culinary Academy, The Culinary Dude has combined both his passions. With the goal of empowering people in the kitchen, classes, camps and events are presented in a non threatening, pressure-less environment. He teaches to the students and not at them. The age range for kid's classes is 4-13 and adult classes 14 and up and is always open to exceptions. There are no issues with the diversity in age, as all participants are working towards the same goal. In no way does this inhibit the process of learning for any of the younger participants. Once students have mastered the process of the hows, whats, wheres, whys and whens of cooking and recipe comprehension, a focus on the product will naturally follow.

About What We offer

(All of the below can be held in your home or are offered at one of the facilities we use)

Kids Cooking Birthday Parties
Parents stop stressing out about the planning of your child s birthday and let us do it! Not only will the kids have the opportunity to learn a variety of cooking styles and techniques during this 2 hour party, but they will also be making their own meal and you don t have to lift a finger. In addition, we can offer the kids a chance for to make & frost their own birthday cupcakes. It is our preference to cater to the food preferences of the birthday child and to assure that their special day is exactly what they want. If you would like a list of past and current themes please click here.

Iron Chef Competitions/Team Building/Parties
This is great for Parties, Team Building among co-workers or just for fun. In the vein of the Food Network show Iron Chef, rather than the participants having a secret ingredient they will break up into groups and choose from 3-4 recipes in 3-4 categories, appetizer, dessert, side dish and main course. Each group will work as a team to make their recipe choices. The goal is to have everyone work together to make the recipes they have chosen in the designated time frame, give or take. It works well and the people in the groups enjoy working together to make this all happen. At the end, we ll set up a buffet for all to eat all that was created and also will present a plate of what they made for judging by The Culinary Dude. In the case of children as the participants, it will obviously be a tie or each team will be given kudos for something they individually made. This may or will eliminate the organizers need to feed the participants a meal during that time frame. Please note that there are a few variations to this concept and can be customized to the needs of the client.

Dinner and a Blindfold
Dinner in a Blindfold-A Meal in the Dark is loosely based on the successful European concept of eating a complete meal in total darkness. The Culinary Dude, Chef Scott Davis has substituted the darkness for a simple blindfold. This fun, enjoyable and great group experience will challenge the senses, taking one's nose and taste buds to places they have never been, not to mention your mind. The Chef will be making the menu based on the availability of local produce and meats on that day, thus Chef s Choice. The meal will conclude by the revealing the ingredients of each course with a game that he calls, "Guess what you just ate". In addition, we are able to cater the meal to meet any special dietary needs as long as we have 72 hours advanced notice. We request that you arrive 5 to 10 minutes prior to the dinner as we will only be offering one seating only. Reservations are necessary at each individual facility. The cost includes a four course meal including Appetizer, Salad, Main Course and Dessert. This great 2-2 1/2 hour experience will be memorable for all.

Cupcake Wars
In the vein of the popular TV show, pending the enrollment numbers, we will break in to groups and the participants will be responsible for creating 12 identical cupcakes with frosting and decoration. Some of the cupcakes and frostings that might be offered are (these selections are subject to change or can be amended to the organizers needs);
Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcake w/ Brown Sugar Frosting, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake w/ Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting, Cookies and Cream Cupcake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting, Banana Chocolate Chip with Nutella Frosting, Caramel Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Frosting, Red Velvet Cupcake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting, Gingerbread Cupcake with Dulce De Leche Frosting, Chocolate Cheese Cake Cupcake with Rocky Road Frosting, Butter Cupcake with Pecan Pie Frosting

Parent & Child Cooking Class
There is nothing more fun than cooking with your children. These classes promote the idea of team work, cooperation and equality between the child and parent in the kitchen. You and your child will work as one of many teams, preparing one of 3 - 5 dishes that culminate in a group meal at the end of class.

Parents vs. Kids Iron Chef Competition
This is a great multi-family bonding event for any occasion. In the vein of the Food Network show Iron Chef, rather than the participants having a secret ingredient they will break up into group s parents in one and kids in the other and be assigned a specific theme and 3-4 recipes including an appetizer or dessert, side dish and main course. The goal is to have everyone work together to make the recipes in a specific time frame. It works well and everyone in the groups enjoys working together to make this all happen. At the end, we ll set up a buffet for all to eat everything that was made and also present a plate of what they made for judging. In the case of children as the participants, it will obviously be a tie, they will win or each team will be given kudos for something they made. Everyone is a winner because they get to eat what they make!

Parents Night Out
This is an opportunity for parents to enjoy some kid free time at some of the finest restaurants in the area where this event is held. This can happen in a private home or at one of our designated facilities for as much as 4 hours. Yes, kid free! You drop the kids off at 5pm, they will create a fresh, healthy meal for themselves as soon as they walk through the door and you pick them up promptly at 9pm. The children will learn about kitchen safety, cook their own meal, setting the table, cleaning up the after themselves, wash their own dishes and prepare and cook their own dessert. Your child will also be part of an accommodating social environment. This can be for kids ages 4-14 and the kids will make their own dinner. Meals can be adjusted to accommodate Dietary, Allergic or Religious concerns, just let us know on the meal request.

Kid Run Restaurant - Brunch
Your child will be creating, prepping, cooking and serving you brunch. Sit back, relax and let your child cater to you for this meal. The kid s will prepare and organize the meal for the first 2 hours of this 3 hour event. The last hour will be spent serving the freshly made meal to you and anyone you want to bring.

Camps
Our hands-on cooking camp will enable kids to find their inner chef. The Culinary Dude, Scott Davis has created a wonderful collection of daily menus that the kids will cook themselves. Using the freshest ingredients, fun and interactive cooking techniques, the kids will prepare lunch from scratch each day as they learn kitchen and food safety, professional kitchen behavior, measuring and prep skills, and table etiquette. In addition to a wide variety of hands-on, tactile recipes, kids will participate in additional food-related activities. Each day the kids will cook and eat lunch together. Camps are held in the Summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring Breaks. Click here to see some of our current and past themes.