FVCC culinary students run temporary restaurant

For the next several weeks, the culinary arts kitchen in the basement of the Flathead Valley Community College Arts and Technology building will morph from a classroom by day to fine dining by night. 

Last Tuesday 19-year-old Sebastian Buendia stood behind the chef’s line as he put the final touches on a ratatouille dish during the soft opening of the student-run restaurant, Epoch, which features French cuisine.

As he worked, other students placed food on plates in a rehearsed fashion. Some of them delivered the meticulous dish to guests scattered throughout the kitchen at tables wrapped in cloth and decorated with candles.

The restaurant is part of the third season of The Culinary Institute of Montana’s capstone course, which has students create and run a temporary restaurant open to the public.

“Our name, Epoch, it doesn’t truly mean ‘epic’ as in the word you typically use,” Buendia explained. “It’s a distinctive time marked by an important event. For us, this is a special event cumulating our culinary education.”

Created by FVCC Executive Chef Howard Karp, the capstone course is designed to teach second-year students how to take an assignment — the business plans, projected cost value and revenue — and throw it all into a real-life trial run.

“And then they actually have results,” Karp said. “And they have to perform their results in front of an audience.”

For the first time, the course is offering guests dinner instead of lunch. Karp said that step helped the restaurant move from offering meals of practicality to a dining experience with more time to enjoy more complicated dishes.

The course is divided into three sections. It begins with five weeks of students taking culinary and business courses where they learn how to secure bank loans, market a company and create a menu.

For four weeks, nine students act as the restaurant’s owners. They produce their own menus, concept, logos, advertising, and create the dishes each night. Karp said the nine remaining students become the “doers of the operation.” They are the dishwashers, servers and accountants.

Then, they switch roles and a new restaurant opens.

For two months the restaurants are open to the public. The money made from the course rolls back into the institute.

The first restaurant of the season, On Fire, wrapped up this month. Epoch will continue through Nov. 18. The restaurant is open Wednesday through Friday, starting at 4:30 p.m., with the last seat taken at 8:30 p.m.

“I like breaking the two up for the two different concepts,” Karp said. “There’s more freedom of thought, versus making a stereotype for eight weeks. And it gives the community the opportunity to enjoy diversity.”

While the course walks through the practicality of owning a business, Karp wants students to see beyond the expectation often placed on culinary students to walk into a restaurant after college.

Culinary students could pursue a life as a registered dietitian, a food scientist or even a research and development chef for a large company, he said.

“You have jobs in retirement homes, hospitals, cruise liners — food is universal, there’s no ending it,” Karp said. “And that’s the perspective I try to give our students; you’re not here to be a short-order cook.”

Sebastian Buendia began taking culinary courses in high school soon after he moved to Montana from Ecuador. While he found an order to cooking through his classes, he had always loved creating meals.

The first meal he remembers making as a child is ceviche, a seafood dish typically made from fresh raw fish curried in citrus juices.

“I remember eating it on the beach of the Pacific Coast. The flavorful shrimp with rich, wonderful tomatoes, lime and cilantro — it all builds into the Latin cuisine,” Buendia said. “Cooking has always been my passion. I have never loved anything else really.”

Buendia said he is the traditional culinary student who hopes to someday own a restaurant. Though he said it will take decades, Buendia said he dreams of receiving a three-star rating from the Michelin Guide, which aims to lead travelers to the best dining around the nation.

In December he will be one of 19 students graduating from the culinary program. Like Buendia, some of his classmates hope to open their own restaurant. At least one intends to have a food truck and others will work to blend the art of food into other careers.

Soon after graduation, Buendia will be on a plane headed to Ecuador for an internship with one of that country’s leading chefs. He said after that, he may return to America or spend some time in Spain as he searches for the next chef he hopes to learn from.

But for now he’s focused on Epoch.

“Being able to actually put all your knowledge into what the restaurant business actually is, is a rare opportunity. Getting to do what you want to do at my age is unheard of,” Buendia said. “And having Chef Howard as your backup and backbone is another huge plus.”

For more information on the Culinary Institute of Montana, go to http://www.fvcc.edu/programs/arts/culinary-arts/culinary-institute-of-montana/.

To make a reservations for a table at Epoch, call 406-249-5964.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.