Broadmoor's bite of education
By OWEN MORRIS
I mentioned the Broadmoor Bistro in Pitch Forks a few weeks ago but it was only last night that I finally made it to the Broadmoor's Wednesday-night dinner.
The Broadmoor Bistro is part of the Broadmoor Technical Center at 6701 83rd Street in Overland Park, the vocational high school in the Shawnee Mission District. Yes, it's a dinner at a high school but unlike all those other pancake feeds and potlucks, this meal is made by juniors and seniors who are training as chefs and pastry chefs.
The program has been going on since 2000, and has gradually expanded from one Wednesday every month in a converted cafeteria to an every-Wednesday dinner in an actual-looking bistro complete with interior design and mood lighting.
What may seem like a sit-down dinner to you is credit hours for the kids in the kitchen. Leading the kitchen is instructor Bob Brassard. When I asked Brassard what he does in the back of the house he joked, "It's my job to yell." Then he explained that he just tries to keep the students and food moving on time.
The students have a reverence for Chef Bob and the opportunity he's created for them within the restrictions and red-tape of a public high school. Though it was my first time meeting Brassard, I had heard about him many times in the culinary class I'm taking at Johnson County Community College, where it seems every other student is his former pupil.
From a menu designed by the students, diners get to choose two appetizers, one entree and a dessert -- a four-course meal. Having a menu designed by people who have never designed one leads to esoteric dishes such as bacon and eggs ravioli for an appetizer. The entrees use the standards like chicken, steak and duck as their bases. (Each entree does have its own special twist.) The menu changes four times a year but every week there are some specials; last night's was a Tuscan bean soup and pork belly entree.
The meal costs a flat $25 per person, most of it paying for what actually ends up on the plate. Much of Brassard's job is controlling food costs. He was lamenting the size of pork bellies and explaining how the price of beans had shot up. He wants the bistro to be as close to a real restaurant as possible because that's the only way to learn. "To sauce tableside you've got to do it! It gives students a chance to do things the classroom never could."
About halfway through the meal, my dining companion remarked that these were some talented college kids. When I told him they were in high-school he was shocked. "I thought Broadmoor was a college? You mean a 16-year-old made this?"
It can be tough to wrap your head around the fact that a person who can barely drive is making and plating complicated desserts involving macchiato reduction and pistachio fancier. "I couldn't even pronounce these words when I was 16," he said with his mouth half-full.
To attend and help support Broadmoor Bistro you must make reservations, which you can do on the Web Site. The November-December menu for the school can be found here.
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