Begin the journey to fulfilling your dreams of becoming a chef!
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Executive Chef
Barbara Alexander is the Executive Chef of the Napa Valley Cooking School at Napa Valley College. Chef Alexander comes from a long line of pedigree restaurants, hotels, and cooking schools. Beginning with a classical 3-year apprenticeship at the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel, she went on to 15 years of Executive Chef positions at acclaimed restaurants in Vancouver, British Columbia, London, England, and Sydney, Australia before embarking upon a career in Culinary Education which took her back to her native Canada, then to the Napa Valley. She has held the esteemed position of Senior Chef Instructor at Dubrulle International Culinary and Hotel Institute of Canada, and The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone before becoming Director of Culinary Programs and Executive Chef here at NVCS. Chef Barbara is a Certified Executive Chef, C.E.C, ACF and holds a Certified Hospitality Educator degree, C.H.E Well rooted in classical culinary education, Chef Barbara works hard to instill the importance of technique and craft on her students while empowering them with passion, inspiration and commitment.
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Laura Lee comes to the Napa Valley with a wealth of knowledge and experience in restaurants, catering and culinary instruction that stretches over 2 decades. She started her career as a partner in The Plaza Café Company operating a 150-seat restaurant in Carmel-By-The-Sea. Over the next 6 years, she would go on to develop a catering business, two additional restaurants and a thriving restaurant consulting business. In 1995 Chef Laura turned her attention to teaching and spent the next 5 years with Home Chef Cooking School as an Instructor and Manager of Curriculum Development.
It was an interest in food and wine pairing that brought Chef Lee to the wine country where she worked first as the Chef de Cuisine at Simi Winery and later provided wine-centric catering for other exclusive wineries in Sonoma and Napa counties. As the Executive Chef, she went on to develop the Food and Wine Pairing Culinary Experience at Signorello Vineyards in Napa.
Laura Lee is a Chef Instructor with an eye on the future of the culinary industry. She has a sincere commitment to empower students to make a difference with the knowledge that every choice they make as a Chef has an impact on the health and sustainability of our world. She is a member of Slow Food USA and the California Food and Justice Coalition. She can often be found in the school's organic garden enjoying the company of chickens and being inspired by the season's bounty. Chef Laura brings a vast amount of experience and ispiration to the Napa Valley Cooking School.
Adjunct Faculty, Guest Chefs, Guest Speakers
Krista Garcia, Pastry Chef
Dieter Dopplefeld, Certified Master Chef
Stan King, Butcher
John Paul Khoury, Preferred Meats
Kim Caffrey, Wine Educator, Silver Oak, Rutherford
Charles Monahan, Food and Beverage Cost Control
Mariano Orlando, Private Chef
Osprey Seafood
** GUEST CHEFS MAY VARY EACH YEAR DEPENDING UPON AVAILABILITY
Photography by Culinary Images