The Key Room at The Next Key Center, part of Novato's Hamilton neighborhood, features a demonstration kitchen of the highest caliber. Thank you to Standards of Excellence for supporting development of our demonstration kitchen featuring their top-notch appliances.
We offer cooking classes ranging from spicy world cuisine to farm-fresh local vegetables as well as events featuring celebrated chefs and culinary activities for children. With an ever-changing roster of classes, you are sure to find something that suits your taste. Take a look at our upcoming events to find something that whets your appetite.
Featured Chefs: Duskie Estes and John Stewart
Duskie Estes and John Stewart opened zazu restaurant + farm in Santa Rosa in 2001. Built on the complementary careers of its partners, the restaurant was named a Top 10 Best New Restaurant of 2002 by Bon Appetit magazine. It has been cited on the Top 100 list in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Top 50 list by San Francisco Magazine. The founders received Rising Star Chef Awards for Sustainability in 2009.
A San Francisco native and graduate of Brown University, Duskie began with an EZ-Bake oven at the age of five. Her career stops include Green's in San Francisco, Baywolf in Oakland, and Palace Kitchen in Seattle. Under her leadership, Palace Kitchen was rated by Gourmet magazine as a Top 5 Seattle restaurant in 2000 and in the nation's top 50 restaurants in 2001. She was coauthor on Tom Douglas's Seattle Kitchen, which received a James Beard Award in 2001.
John Stewart hails from Mount Kisco, N.Y., and grew up in the kitchen of Thomas Fox and Sons, the catering company founded in 1919 by his great-grandfather. In this environment, John developed a strong connection between family and food. Moving to Seattle in 1994, John worked at Etta's Seafood and Palace Kitchen, then as sous chef at Cafe Lago, where his passion for Italian food began. A graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, John is an avid gardener plus chicken, pig, and sheep rancher; he also studied salumi with Chef Mario Batali and at the University of Iowa Meat Lab.
His salumi studies have expanded into the Black Pig Meat Co., offering products made from natural, free-range, heritage breed pork. In 2005, Duskie and John also opened Bovolo restaurant in Healdsburg with a "Slow Food...Fast" concept. The duo were named the "King and Queen of Porc" in June in a national "snout-to-tail cook-off" pitting them against some of the country's most pretigious chefs.
This dynamic duo will team up with David Budworth, aka Dave the Butcher, for an evening of fine dining and the butcher's art on Oct. 20 at Fresh Starts Cooking School. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 415-382-3363 x244.
To learn more, please visit www.zazurestaurant.com and meet Dave the Butcher at www.askyourbutcher.com.
