GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Farrington High School senior Robin Abad has been handling the heat as an intern at Padovani's Restaurant.
Students put internship
training to the test
Used to be, when the cooking students at Farrington High School needed a cream sauce, they'd open a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup. These days they make it from scratch.
'Dinner at Padovani's'
A three-course meal planned and executed by Farrington High School seniors Robin Abad, Mark Carlos and Marvin CruzDate: May 15; seatings begin at 6 p.m.
Place: Padovani's Restaurant, Doubletree Alana Waikiki Hotel
Cost: $40 ($50 with wines), to benefit the Farrington culinary program
Call: 946-3456
This wasn't the doing of their teacher, but rather a student, Robin Abad, who has been interning for a year at Padovani's Restaurant.
At Padovani's, if you're even seen with a can of condensed soup, they'd probably smack you with a spoon.
Abad, along with fellow seniors Mark Carlos and Marvin Cruz, were selected by chef Philippe Padovani to work in his kitchen, learning dinner service at one of the swankiest restaurants in town.
Next week they'll prove they've absorbed the lessons. The three have been given full reign over the menu for a three-course dinner at Padovani's.
Carlos, assigned to the first course, is working on a tart with foie gras and asparagus mousse, plus a salad of mangos and scallops over mixed greens.
Abad's entrée choices will be veal shanks with truffled mashed potatoes and sea bass in a pineapple-almond crust. "I've been testing it out the last few weeks," he said. "It's starting to turn out good."
Cruz's dessert-in-progress is a dacquoise -- a small cake -- with walnuts, poached pears and chocolate sabayon sauce.
The vocabulary, not to mention the menu, is light years removed from the students' pre-Padovani haunts of fast food and Zippy's. "Before I came here I didn't know what was sautéing," Carlos said. "I didn't know what was Dijon mustard."
These days they're more likely to save their money and eat somewhere nice, where they'll dissect the menu and pay close attention to the food. "My tastebuds are more into the high-class side now," Carlos said.
Pierre Padovani, who has overseen most of the students' training, said he and brother Philippe wanted to create an apprenticeship experience similar to what they undertook in France at age 16.
The apprenticeships were two years in his case, three years for Philippe, working full days for very little pay. "You have to learn the hard way, to take responsibility," he said.
The Farrington students aren't expected to put in that much time, but their internships have required great commitment. They report every day after school and work through dinner, as independently as possible.
"There's a lot of pressure," Cruz said. "You personally want to get everything right, but everybody makes mistakes."
For example, he was going to throw out what was left of a bell pepper after slicing what he needed. "Chef came over and picked up the piece and said, 'This money!' "
They're learning to take things personally, too. One night a dish of Abad's was sent back as "too bland." He made up a new plate that satisfied the customer, but "I felt like someone just punched me in the stomach. You send out food -- if it comes back, it hurts."
Their food-service instructor at Farrington, Laura Sato, said the experience has transformed not just these three students, but her entire program. The students are sharing what they've learned, and putting their skills into practice at Farrington's student-run restaurant. "They are teaching and they are so motivated."
In the beginning, the school was able to pay them a little for their time at Padovani's, but the funds ran out. Sato is working on securing grants to fund future internships.
But meanwhile at Padovani's, the three students said they are willing to work without pay, considering this the best training they could find. Abad even works another restaurant job to make some cash. All plan to enter the culinary program at Kapiolani Community College after graduation.
"We can't pay them anymore, but Robin said he'd work there for free," Sato said. "I thought, 'What an incredible attitude.' "
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