Best Cooking Class for Seasoned Amateurs

French Culinary Institute

462 Broadway, No. 2; 888-324-2433

Soho’s French Culinary Institute’s recently expanded program for amateurs caters to serious home cooks looking for professional-level training without the time commitment and student loans. An October renovation has transformed the school into a high-tech gourmet academy with modern, Equinox-like facilities. Most classes are geared toward professionals, but more amateur classes like Essential Tapas (two classes; $650) and La Technique (22 classes; $6,875) are being added regularly. This is fussy French technique par excellence. Fans of Top Chef will relish the professional-kitchen flourishes—chef’s whites, including toques, are given to all students, as is a case of knives and implements. Best of all, students theatrically address the instructor as “chef.”

From the 2007 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine

Competition breeds the best. If only one pizzeria existed in New York, of course, there’d be no real winning slice. Thankfully, we’ll never know what that sorry situation tastes like, since pizza—like dance parties, dog runs, and fried chicken—has to evolve upward here.