PrintCooking with Kids: Fine Dining Boot Camp
When I heard the Georgian Room, Seattle's fanciest hotel restaurant, would be holding an etiquette class for 8- to 13-year-olds, I had one question for instructor (and Georgian Room maitre d') Tony D'Agostino: are any kids going to come to the class on their own accord?
Not likely, he admitted. "How many kids go, 'Mom, I want to go learn etiquette?'" D'Agostino said. "It's right up with the adult classes, though. You go around the table and ask, 'Why are you here?' The husbands go, 'My wife is bringing me.'"
So how do you keep a captive and potentially unruly audience entertained? In a word, snacks. And not those cucumber sandwiches, either. The tiered tea trays will hold scones and clotted cream, peanut butter sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches (crustless, of course), and chocolate chip cookies. To drink, kids will get a choice of hot chocolate with whipped cream and mini-marshmallows, or herb tea. This doesn't sound like much of a choice to me.
It's not all treats, however: a PowerPoint presentation will also be served. "At the end of the day we’re looking to develop our own clientele," said D'Agostino. The big challenge, it seems to me, will be that some of the kids will be ready for, "this is the fish fork," while others will have trouble with, "don't throw fish."
In addition to the adult and kid classes, the Georgian has offered fine dining classes for high school students during prom season. Thanks to the urbane suaveness instilled by the class, prom-bound students will get lucky or their money back. Okay, not really.
About the author: Matthew Amster-Burton lives in Seattle. His work appears frequently in the Seattle Times and Seattle magazine. He also maintains the blog Roots and Grubs. His favorite food is pad Thai.
Youth Fine Dining Etiquette
Time: Sunday, May 4, 3:30pm
Place: The Georgian Room, Fairmont Olympic Hotel; 411 University Street, Seattle (map)
Info: Ages 8-13; Kids $25, accompanying parents $39 (children must be accompanied)
Reservations: 206-621-7889
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5 Comments:
My daughter would go---willingly. However, she would take issue with the beverage option. She is extremely picky and will pretty much only drink water, milk (skim only), or lemodade (preferably sugar-free). I think it would be a more successful venture if they split it into two age groups, however. An 8 year old and a 13 year old are miles apart in what they eat and what they are willing to eat. When I was 13, I would have been insulted if my parents paid $25 and I got hot chocolate and pb sandwiches.
jcrisco at 12:22PM on 04/07/08
M, would your little girl go? Or rather, would you send her? I think it would be quite a laugh.
i8alot at 3:28PM on 04/07/08
i8alot, my daughter is 4, but I'd totally take her when she's 8. If we were comped.
mamster at 4:53PM on 04/07/08
Notice they didn't mention a "broken service items" charge or "food-fight cleaning and legal bills." They either have magic behavioral control powers or they haven't met my son and his friends yet.
surfchef at 4:57PM on 04/07/08
We started a program like this at for students in our middle school here in Singapore a number of years ago. Essentially parents enrolled the children and we had three classes--by grade. The kids had to dress appropriately (a struggle for some of them who only owned sneakers!) Once a month they would have a sit-down dinner with parent chaperones followed by a dance class. At the end of the year we would throw a "ball" for them. It sounds stuffy but it was always over-subscribed and ten years down the road many of them thank us for having taught them the rules of the road!
smallblondemom at 3:56AM on 04/08/08