NOW THEY'RE COOKING

Prestigious name attached to Pearl facility
BY JOHN GRIFFIN EXPRESS-NEWS DINING EDITOR
It's official: The culinary school at the Pearl Brewery is now the Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio. Word couldn't have reached school officials at a more advantageous time.
"Less than 48 hours ago, we found out" the final approval for the Culinary Institute of America's takeover of the school had been received, director of education Shelley Grieshaber told the fifth graduating class Friday. That was enough time to ensure that the 16 students' diplomas as well as their chefs' whites - used instead of graduation robes - would bear the new name.
The school had originally been called the Center for Foods of the Americas when it opened in early 2006. From here on out, the name CFA will be used to denote the school's program for Latin American culinary studies, Grieshaber said.
The formation of a Latin Cuisines Advisory Committee, to help create the CFA's curriculum, was also announced Friday.
Members include culinary ex-perts from throughout the country and South America. Along with local chefs Andrew Weiss-man of Le Reve, Scott Cohen, James Sanchez of Acenar and Johnny Hernandez of True Flavors Catering - all Culinary Institute of America graduates - the board will include Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill Chicago as well as chef and culinary historian Maricel Presilla and Robert Del Grande of Houston's Care Annie.
The committee has to start at the beginning, because little has been recorded about Latin cuisine, Hernandez said. Legendary chef Auguste Escoffier codified the rules of French cooking that are still taught at the Culinary
Institute of America today, he said, but "there is not anything like that in the Mexican and Latin cultures."
Instructor Diana de la Vega, who ran the restaurant E1' Na-ranjo in Oaxaca, and Latin cuisines specialist Elizabeth Kossick will head to Mexico and South America in the future to record culinary practices that will make up the school's library and be the basis of its classes.
In the beginning, 60 percent of the work will be done in Mexico, Kossick said, while the remainder will focus on cuisines from countries such as Brazil and Peru, which are attracting a growing interest on the culinary scene.
De la Vega's first two classes will be on Regional Mexican Cuisine: Puebla and Oaxaca and Mexico's Com Kitchen, which are scheduled for March and April. Both are geared toward culinary professionals.
In the meantime, work on the Pearl property, under the management of philanthropist Kit Goldsbury's Silver Ventures, is progressing at a steady pace. Scaffolding on the main building, the Brew House, was recently re-moved, and the Full Goods Building, which will house shops and a restaurant run by Hernandez, should open in early summer. The next culinary facility on the campus, which will house the classrooms and library for the Latin culinary program, should be finished by spring 2010, Grieshaber said.
Her schedule shows no signs of slowing, either. Shortly after the commencement, she led an orientation class for the next 3O-week certificate class, which begins Monday.