Attendees to the third annual Bakersfield College Sterling Silver Dinner on Jan. 29 were shuttled from their cars in golf carts by student assistants into the lavishly decorated campus cafeteria, where throughout the night they feasted upon the culinary delights of Playboy Mansion Chef William Bloxsom-Carter and the students and staff of the BC culinary arts program.
Music accompanied the dinner and fine wines chosen by event coordinator and BC Foundation head, Mike Stepanovich, were served.
Throughout the night Bloxsom-Carter interacted with the culinary students, offering advice, stressing desired procedure, and offering words of encouragement as the students served the food they prepared.
“You guys are the professionals, they’re the consumers,” said Bloxsom-Carter. “They’re going to say ‘What am I getting here tonight’ and Chef Davis brings up a very valid point – you’re here to make that person feel like they’re the only person that matters in your life.”
As the students hustled in and out of the kitchen, they were often offered words of encouragement from Bloxsom-Carter, hearing often, “Smile when you serve the food, it makes it taste better.”
BC culinary student Ainsley Fulton, earlier in the week prior to the event, said, “[Carter] makes you think five times instead of twice.” Bloxsom-Carter also worked with BC culinary students a week before the Sterling Silver Dinner.
During the dinner, BC Chef Suzanne Davis, acting as captain to the front-end servers, spoke on the importance and the rareness of the Sterling Silver event in a student’s curriculum.
“We don’t have any preparation for this kind of event,” said Davis. “Usually we have a contained restaurant, the Renegade Room, that is the only exposure they have to dining room stuff that they have. It is rare that we ever get an opportunity to do a banquet of this caliber on campus. Once a year, that’s all we get.”
When problems occurred, Bloxsom-Carter initiated solutions. During the serving of the cheese course it was brought to their attention that more cold plates were needed. BC Chef Pat Coyle came into the BC Panorama grill to inquire on the status of the dish.
“You guys about ready to serve that or what?” said Coyle.
“No, you no what, we have plates that are in the walk-in, we need those out, but they’re kind of warm,” responded Bloxsom-Carter.
“I told them to put them in the freezer real quick,” said Coyle.
The plates were chilled in time and the Shaft Aged Bleu Vein Cheese Plate, with Toasted Marcona Almonds, Port-infused Figs, strawberries, and with Sauterne-poached Apricots, were served in appropriate fashion.
“Talking about the plate and the composition of the plate, you have to look at the balance of things as well,” said Bloxsom-Carter. “We try to go with odd numbers like three strawberries on the plate like we had on the quail dish; we had three mushrooms on the plate; three carrots on the plate. Visually, it’s more pleasing.”
When asked about the nature of working under banquet conditions BC culinary student Olimpo Alvarez said, “It’s actually more relaxed. It’s fun.”
As the night winded down and students began to go home, BC culinary student Aviel Menchaca said, “I learned a lot. It was my first time serving as a college student. It was kind of hectic, but we got through it. It was a fun time. I liked it.”
According to Coyle, the BC culinary program strives to present an environment that is as close as possible to a restaurant, but the Sterling Silver dinner offers a more unique learning experience.
“In functions like this, we have a lot of students here, but they get to see the presentation, the plating, and the way things are cooked for banquet work. They don’t get to see that every day in the Renegade Room,” Coyle said.