Eating at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is supposed to be one of the highlights of visiting Hyde Park because it’s not just a meal but an experience.
The Culinary Institute of America was founded in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut, to train returning World War II veterans for careers in the restaurant industry. As it grew, it moved in 1970 to its beautiful main campus overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park. Today it is widely regarded as one of the world’s premier culinary schools.
Students can earn associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in areas such as: Culinary Arts, Baking & Pastry Arts, Food Business Management, Hospitality Management, and Applied Food Studies. The emphasis is on extensive hands-on experience in professional kitchens, along with classroom instruction.
Many famous chefs and food personalities have studied or taught there, and graduates work in Michelin-starred restaurants, luxury hotels, wineries, cruise lines, food media, and major food companies worldwide.
The Hyde Park campus covers about 170 acres along the Hudson River. Before becoming the CIA, the property was a Jesuit seminary known as St. Andrew-on-Hudson. The impressive stone building, Roth Hall, was originally part of that religious campus and remains the centerpiece of the school today. There are still fine reminders of its earlier history, including the former chapel and a small Jesuit cemetery, and walking the halls of the first floor to read the placards is like visiting a museum!
Unlike most colleges, the CIA welcomes the public, so we were able to make a reservation at one of the three student-run restaurants. We chose the American Bounty Restaurant, which celebrates regional American cooking made with Hudson Valley ingredients. The meal was prepared and served by students under the supervision of experienced chef-instructors. We were watching future professional chefs hone their craft!
We arrived early, which gave us time to wander through the first-floor hallways before our dinner reservation. What we expected to be simply a way to pass the time turned into an enjoyable part of our visit.
We could see remnants of the seminary… pews in the hallway and a chapel where a wedding dinner was being held.
The photographs, displays, and exhibits told the story of the school and offered a fascinating look at the changing world of food and cooking in America. It felt a little like walking through a history museum—except this museum was filled with chefs, menus, kitchens, and the promise of something delicious waiting around every corner.
We enjoyed the hallway devoted to Anthony Bourdain, one of the Culinary Institute of America’s best-known graduates. Bourdain helped introduce millions of people not only to different foods, but also to the cultures and people behind them. The displays made our stroll through the halls an enjoyable history lesson!
If we had been there during the day, we could have seen some of the thousands of students in their classrooms… by looking through many of the large open viewing windows. This evening, we saw them running the student-run restaurants (there are at least 4, each offering a different style of cuisine and dining experience).
We had great fun exploring the halls and learning along the way. Of course, being surrounded by reminders of wonderful food also made us increasingly hungry, so it may have been the first history lesson we have ever taken that came with an appetite!
So, appetites intact…we were on to dinner at the American Bounty Restaurant! This was our first experience with an amuse-bouche—a tiny, complimentary bite served before our meal to awaken our palates and hint at the chef’s style! This one had watermelon. One small and very delicious bite…..
Next came a tomato salad as an appetizer. It had a “foam” made from aged cheddar cheese. The foam was a type of espuma; a very light culinary foam made by blending a flavored liquid or purée and aerating it with a siphon.
It was to add flavor without heaviness….also delicious!
I loved my meal of lamb and roasted chick peas with curried sweet potatoes.
Pete was not as crazy about his trout. It was perfectly cooked, but he did not feel it had enough flavor. It did not dampen our experience, however!
I forgot to take pics of our desserts…mine was a corn flan! That does not sound appealing, but it was delicious!
The experience was made even more enjoyable by the students themselves. We loved talking with them, hearing about their training, and watching them put their skills into practice. Our experience was not simply eating at a restaurant, but also enjoying an important part of their education. We left already thinking about which restaurant we might try on a future trip!
This was our last stop in Hyde Park. The first, the Vanderbilt estate, reflected inherited wealth. The Roosevelt home reflected public service. The Culinary Institute seems to reflect opportunity. Students from around the world come to Hyde Park to learn, to work hard, and to build careers doing something they love. It is a place where talent and dedication probably matter more than family name or fortune, yet it is an institution that helps people create their own futures through education and skill. (If they can afford the education!! We learned it was just short of $20,000 each semester to attend this school!!)
