Guest Chef at Farestart
20-May-2008
It’s been quite some time since I talked about one of my favorite non-profit organizations, Farestart. For those of you who have not heard of this organization here’s just a quick bit of info.
Farestart trains homeless people for careers in the restaurant industry. They train for both front and back of the house and have an amazing success rate. Much of this due to the fact that they also train these folks in life skills – many have never had a bank account or paid bills before – and that the support from Seattle chefs and restaurant community is really great. If you are interested in more information about this program start here and then take a look around their site.
They recently (within the last year) moved to a new facility that is much larger than the old, which is allowing them to train more people and expand some of their programs. One of the best things is that they now have more room on Guest Chef night, which is every Thursday night.
On guest chef night, a local chef comes in and instructs the students and then a 3-course meal is served. All time and material is donated by the chef and their restaurant. On that night, waiters are volunteers, often from local businesses. Diners pay about $30 for the dinner. You can also purchase wine, beer, coffee, soft drinks etc. The entire amount you pay goes to supporting the program. You also have the option to donate more and any service tip also goes back to the program.
It’s a great deal, a way to sample some local chef’s work and a great way to support a program that is truly "teaching them how to fish".
To see the line-up of chefs and to make a reservation check out the Guest Chef page.
Farestart
7th & Virginia
Seattle
5 Comments
Comments are closed.
Culinary Fool 
That is excellent! A very worthy program!
I thought I\’d tell you about something up here in Vancouver, called the EAT! Vancouver – The Everything Food + Cooking Festival http://www.eat-vancouver.com/
Hi Hedge:
Yes, it\’s really a great program and worthy of being considered. There are many events throughout the year that help support this cause so there are a lot of easy wasy to help out and have fun doing it.
Thanks for the link. I\’d been looking at that event and trying to find a way to get to some of it. Unfortunately, that\’s a jam packed weekend for me. If you go, let us know how it was!
~ B
Hiya. What an amazing organisation. I am pretty certain Jamie Oliver has something similar in Melbourne Aus. It is so great to give these kids a chance. Take care, H
Hi h!
Yes, I\’ve seen something similar about Jamie, although I *think* he wwas working with high school kids (actually from a school). But I know there are other similar organizations. And every little bit helps.
~ B
How inspiring and hopeful and tasty!-jenj