SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (WRGB) — A world of international flavors is available at the fingertips of foodies across the Capital Region, thanks to a group of students at the Casola Dining Room.
Located at SUNY Schenectady County Community College, the dining room offers lunch and dinner service during the fall and spring semesters, prepared and served by culinary and hospitality students.
“It looks like a restaurant, sounds like a restaurant; it’s not a restaurant. It’s a classroom,” Associate Professor Jay Larkin said. “We want that teamwork and that environment that we really build into our coursework, as well, that the culinary arts students will take the front-of-the-house class, as the hotel restaurant students will also take culinary classes, so that you have that understanding, really, in both perspectives of the service.”
During the Spring 2025 semester, the dining room offered menus inspired by cuisine in Spain, Germany, France and Asia, among others.
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“We work in collaboration with the pastry classes, as well, because we cook the culinary side of things – the first and second course, appetizers and entrées – and then a pastry class cooks all the desserts, so there has to be some collaboration there,” Associate Professor Courtney Withey, a certified executive chef, said. “I’ve had the opportunity to write all the menus. I try and keep them current and updated. I change them and rotate them throughout the years. So, I try and keep them as new and fresh and exciting for the students as possible. We also have the students do a final menu project, and so, ideally, what I’d like to do when I get a collection of really great student menus, I would like to showcase the student menus in here as well.”
When CBS6 visited the dining room, students were preparing for lunch service during France week. Chef Withey worked her way around the kitchen, instructing groups of students on the dishes of the day and how to best prepare them. Then, the culinary students brought out samples of what they were preparing, so the hospitality students could taste the menu and ask questions.
“Not only do you know the food and get to learn it yourself, [but also] you get to be able to recommend people certain types of food because not everybody knows what they’re eating. They’re coming here to learn the cuisine,” first-year student Deja Glenn said. “You also get to give them a chance to be like, ‘Hey, I want to try this or I want to try that,’ because a lot of people come here just to try the new cuisines without having to pay a crazy amount for the cuisine itself.”
The three-course meals at noon and in the evening are the same. The only difference is cost, with lunch service running for $23, and dinner service priced at $30. According to SUNY SCCC’s website, this includes the New York State sales tax and a surcharge that supports the Faculty Student Development Fund.
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“Going to school here, I’ve sharpened my skills quite a bit, and being able to learn different pieces of equipment that you wouldn’t normally learn right away in a job is pretty awesome, as well as a very different menu style,” second-year student Faith Pilbeam said. “I think what surprised me the most is how intensive some of the recipes are, and yet we’re still able to get them done in three, four hours, and then you’re immediately serving it to the public.”
Back in the front of the house, Professor Larkin said even the smallest details make a difference.
“The ultimate goal is really to go out there with a mindset toward customer service and elevating every interaction that we have with our guests,” he said. “It really is that moment of truth and understanding that that can be verbal, nonverbal; sometimes, something as simple as a smile can be that moment of truth and hospitality that really sets a company and an individual apart.”
For Chef Withey, it’s about growth.
“You have students that are absolutely terrified at the beginning of the semester. They’re terrified to work with the knives, to work with the fire, to feel the heat and the pressure, to hear their own voice even, being able to project it across the kitchen,” she told CBS6. “To be a student that’s able to project their voice and lead a team of students is incredibly empowering. I think, in the beginning of the semester, most of them think that they can’t do it, and by the end, they can all do it, which is just incredible. It really is like one of the most gratifying experiences, just to watch them grow from the beginning to the end, and you can see the confidence build from week to week, as well.”
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Pilbeam, working as Chef of the Day when CBS6 visited, was a prime example of that growth.
“I was expediting tickets, which is something that I have never ever done, and I came here and did it, and I was like, ‘Yes, this is what I love,’” she said. “For me, that’s been eye-opening and something that I want to do in the future and just being able to work in a restaurant, because I haven’t done that.”
Service for the spring semester has wrapped, but reservations for the fall semester can be made on OpenTable starting in September.
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