I just wrote about cooking a few weeks ago, but a big concern in the community has come to my attention. Now that Andronico’s has been sold to Lunardi’s, what will happen to the popular cooking classes held in the front corner room?
Danville resident Cindy Hill was telling me last week that for more than five years she enjoyed the Winemaker Dinners as well as the Lunch and Learn sessions that Andronico’s hosted. She was such a fan, in fact, that coordinator Karen Alvarez hired her on as an assistant.
Cindy laughed at the idea it might be construed as a job. “I basically ‘worked for food,'” she said. She also walked away with the recipes plus enjoyed the camaraderie as people received culinary instruction. Some were there to learn the basics, such as how to chop an onion. “I raised two boys who knew how to cook. It was something comfortable in our home,” Cindy said. “But not everyone has that situation.” Others came to study the finer points – such as making puff pastry from scratch.
Cindy herself had a chocolate truffle company years ago, she said, and she still loves to cook and be creative and entertain. She said every class filled up to capacity with 36, some even before they were officially posted. “For $89 you got great food, great wine, and entertainment from the celebrity chefs,” she said. One evening, Fess Parker, aka Davy Crockett, came with his wines from the Santa Ynez Valley. I forgot to ask if he was wearing his politically incorrect coonskin cap. They also hosted celebrity cookbook authors.
“You always got to eat a ton of food,” Cindy said enthusiastically. “It was always a fun atmosphere.” She said her husband had a party at the school for his company, with a chef who kept them all laughing as he demonstrated his culinary art. She said it was the best party the company had had in 18 years.
Other companies, including Chevron, used it for team building. Once some St. Mary’s College students came with an instructor. The Red Hat Society ladies also enjoyed sessions. Cindy said there were cooking events several times a week in the evenings as well as Lunch and Learns twice a week, which cost $39.
Sometimes daughters would treat moms. Once Andronico’s planned a Valentine’s Day dinner, with the idea that men could show up for the cooking class and then their sweethearts could join them when it was time to eat. “But the women showed up early and the men came later,” Cindy said.
She also attended children’s parties on Saturday mornings and watched as kids who normally only ate macaroni and cheese learned to make chicken manicotti and broiled tomatoes au gratin, “things out of their normal comfort range.”
When Cindy heard Andronico’s was leaving its Danville location she created Spoonie Awards – spoons spray-painted gold – and presented them to Karen Alvarez, the Cooking School coordinator and event planner, and Jan Glomstad, the Cooking School instructor. Karen has meanwhile signed on with Lunardi’s, which gives Cindy hope.
Cindy noted the cooking classes were an important part of the Danville community, where her family has lived for 18 years. She and her husband John even celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at an Andronico’s Cooking Class.
Karen Alvarez was busy Friday working at the store as it made its transition from Andronico’s to Lunardi’s. She did indeed sign on for the new venture but said it will be structured differently.
“They would like to have local chefs come and rent out the facility and teach that way,” she said. “We will reach out to the exciting chefs we have worked with.”
She said cooking classes are very, very high maintenance and required much TLC and a lot of dedicated resources. “We want to step back and do something similar but different,” she said. “I’m along for the ride.”
Cindy Hill hopes the ride will continue along the same path and help Lunardi’s become beloved to community, as was its predecessor.
