We recently had the opportunity to try out our cooking skills with a professional chef at
Kitchen Social - Fort Myers. From start to finish, we had an amazing time.
The location is the back of a store front, on a corner -- it's like you have a private parking lot facing the store. You park and walk in the front door to an open-concept foyer and kitchen area. You can find a seat or walk directly to the back fridge to keep your beverages (BYOB wine, beer) cool. They have wine glasses and water glasses available. For our meal, there was water, lemonade, freshly cut lemons, and ice to help ourselves to. There is a restroom and sink adjacent to this drink area, so that you may wash your hands in between prepping the food.
The kitchen is the focal point of the whole room, against the left wall, when walking in. The seating is at a breakfast bar/center island that wraps around the kitchen. When you find your seat, you find your appetizer in front of you, along with most of the ingredients you'll need for the night. The doors open 30 minutes prior to the class starting time, which allows everyone to arrive, pour a beverage, enjoy their appetizer and mingle with the other customers. It's truly like a dinner party -- a social (half) hour prior to beginning the cooking.
Once everyone has arrived, "class" starts with an intro from the chef. Our Chef Instructor happened to be Miss Anita Kern. There are two other chefs that you may get: Chef Instructor Sterling Peacock and Kitchen Manager/Resident Chef Nikki Harbester. Miss Anita began by telling us a little bit about herself and how she came to be a Chef Instructor at Kitchen Social. She then told us a little about Kitchen Social and what the plan was for the evening. We started off by prepping our Classic Wedge Salad, with a homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing. I don't typically like blue cheese, but the lemon that we added was the perfect balance for me! During this salad prep stage, we learned the proper way to use our chef's knife and the proper way to cut an onion and cucumber -- always keep the veggie's flat edge on the cutting board, to prevent cutting yourself!
After finishing the salad prep, Miss Anita turned Alexa up, and we all enjoyed our salads! This was also meant to be a social time, but it got quiet, as everyone was too busy chowing down on this delicious appetizer! For the next step, we learned about the best way to prepare risotto, talked about the ingredients in our roasted sweet potato risotto, and sliced our mushrooms for the chicken marsala. Miss Anita was very detailed and answered every "why" we through at her, really enjoying educating us about proper techniques!
Next, it was time to prepare the chicken marsala. We whisked our egg wash (eggs and a couple tablespoons of water) while she gave everyone parchment paper and flour, followed by our chicken breast filets. This, my friends, is where we learned a game-changing piece of cooking advice. Are you ready for it? Flour/dry season the chicken before you dip it in the egg wash! Who would've thought?! We had been doing it wrong our whole lives - first dipping the chicken in the egg wash, and then tossing the flour coating around that. Never again, folks. Never again.
We added the egg-washed chicken to our frying pan (and the oil had already warmed up). We added a few more ingredients to the chicken, including the yummy mushrooms. Miss Anita chatted with us about experimenting with different types of mushrooms, and taught us something else: a mushroom is old if the underside has separated from the stem. If the underside is still connected to the stem, it is fresh! We also learned that we should "shake" the pan to keep the ingredients from sticking, rather than messing up the crust of the chicken with a spoon.
Our final product was a very moist chicken marsala served over the perfect sweet potato risotto. We were very pleased and our stomachs were equally happy! We finished the night with a chocolate fondue with fresh strawberries, pineapples, and brownies. It was a great night, Miss Anita was amazing, and our group of chefs-in-training were a great bunch of people. I would highly recommend visiting Kitchen Social for a date night or for any other reason! You learn so much and the food tastes better than if eaten at a restaurant.
Kitchen Social is all about fun! It’s about fun with food and friends while learning new skills in the kitchen. Our hands-on cooking classes focus on a variety of cuisines, from international flavors and techniques to hometown favorites. The goal at Kitchen Social is to provide our customers with a fun, non-intimidating learning experience in the kitchen. Make food, make friends, here at Kitchen Social.
Experiences Offered:
Team Building
Cooking together is a great way to facilitate bonding with your team members, reduces employee stress, and gives your employees a chance to know each other outside of the office setting.
Girls/Guys Night Out
Our diverse class selection will offer something for everyone, with Guy’s and Girl’s nights out featured on a monthly basis for a night on the town with your best buddies or closes girlfriends.
Kitchen Social hands-on cooking classes offer the perfect atmosphere for a first date. There will be no awkward silences as you are guided through the process of preparing a meal that you’ll both enjoy.
The best thing about Memories … is making them! A Kitchen Social cooking class is the perfect experience to share with the special people in your life. So come in & have fun – make some memories.
Try something unique for your next party or event. Let us plan the details for you or select a menu from our chef’s suggestions or your own ideas. Our versatile staff of culinary instructors will lead your group through each recipe, offering a host of helpful tips and tricks along the way. Eclectic or themed, classical or Nuevo, basic or advanced, our chefs will impart the knowledge and confidence that you need to take on virtually any culinary task.
I was provided a complimentary pair of tickets for the purpose of this review. All opinions stated are my own.
