Ginny Bartolone

Events may be more intimate these days, but these club chefs are enhancing member engagement in a time of social distance.
After nearly a year without packed dance floors or ballrooms, chefs are left to look back on how quickly and dramatically the nature of the events side of the club business has changed.

I’m not going to claim that I walked 500 miles, and then walked 500 more, for a bowl of soup, but if I did say that, it would not be horribly far fetched.
Here’s the thing: I have a bit of an attachment to an ancient pilgrimage in Northern Spain. The Camino de Santiago is a ninth-century series of hiking trails that trace their way across Europe, culminating in the city of Santiago de Compostela.

This traditional training method holds strong in the culinary world, especially for those looking for hands-on education.
An aspiring chef has a few popular pathways to working in a professional kitchen. While culinary school is still the most traditional route, the culinary apprenticeship may allow a more flexible and practical approach to training.

Online college is one thing, but how could online school work for elementary, middle, and high school kids, who we traditionally assume should be inside a school building five days a week?
At first glance, the idea of online grade schools may seem confusing, and bring up a range of questions. Primarily, how do they compare to a more traditional school setting?

Targeting an ingredient’s harvest season allows club chefs to showcase vibrant menu items throughout the year.
Fresh ingredients have the power to evoke memories of specific times of year—hearty root vegetables in the winter, watermelon in the summer, and the diverse collection of squash in the fall. Club chefs often aim to highlight seasonality—or a time when the item is at its peak for harvesting, prepping, and eating.

Choosing to pursue a boarding school education is no small decision. The name “boarding school” itself is even a bit deceiving, as it implies that living away from home is the main distinction. But another way to look at boarding school is that it’s an immersion into an all-encompassing educational setting that offers an entirely unique approach to how a student experiences learning, develops socially, and even views their future.

By cooking up the often-overlooked parts ingredients, chefs can lower their carbon footprint and impress members.
As clubs and resorts continue to work to gain a unique edge, zero-waste dishes are becoming one of the most eco-friendly trends of the time. Studies from the past decade have shown that the dining industry loses billions of dollars on food waste each year, and even the smallest changes can save money with little effort.

A simple combination of flour and heated cooking fat help create the signature rich textures in club soups, stews, and sauces.
Attaining that thick, smooth texture in a dish often comes down to a foundational cooking method known as a roux. Club and resort chefs use this technique in a range of sauces, soups, stews, gumbos, and glazes.

Two clubs are combining ingenuity with a sense of member responsibility to still provide a memorable holiday season that stays well within CDC guidelines.
As COVID restrictions hold strong, the question of the upcoming holiday season hangs in the air: How can clubs safely uphold traditions?

Westchester CC and The University Club of San Francisco have employed flexibility, diligence, and ingenuity to design events that are both safe and celebratory.

Executive Chef Joseph Comunale and his team at Inwood CC balanced safety and style to score a culinary success at the sold-out tournament.
The member-guest tournament is one of a club’s prime opportunities to show off its fine-tuned hospitality skills.

After months of digging through online rentals, visiting a potential apartment is a momentous event. There are only so many photos of the same wood floors, red brick and white walls you can sort through before they all start to blend together in your mind. All you want to do is walk into a space that feels like home. This anticipation comes with a danger though: the curse of rose-colored rental glasses.

There’s nothing quite as exciting as planning some much-needed time away from work.

Hitting the road for a cross-country trip, flying across the world, or even enjoying a staycation disrupts the monotony of routine and revitalizes how we look at life. However, returning to work after a refreshing break can bring its challenges.

The pressure of Valentine’s Day can evoke panic in even the best of gift-givers and receivers.

Article on pages 24 and 25. "Showtime": a look into two innovative chef's action stations.