COURTESY IRWIN YAMAMOTO / LCC Students invited guests into the Leeward Community College kitchens Friday, serving sushi and other foods made in the all-new facilities.

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New kitchens for
student cooks

A pasta machine. Oooh. A convection oven with a temperature probe. Aaaah. Refrigerators with roll-away racks. Die happy.

A few short years ago, the baking instructors at Leeward Community College would have been happy with an oven that worked, never mind enough space to teach 20-plus students in a collision-free kitchen.

This spring, they got their oven, their space and a lot more, as the culinary program moved into renovated kitchen facilities.

On Friday, the school held a Hawaiian blessing for the very shiny new teaching space, inviting supporters to view the results of a $3.4 million makeover.

Tommylynn Benavente, coordinator for the Culinary Arts Program, said the kitchens had been inadequate since she joined the school in 1985, with many appliances that had been in use since the mid-'70s.

The kitchen has been doubled in size and the downstairs bakeshop has tripled. During the renovation period, which began last summer, students learned off-site, for example at the Filipino Community Center kitchen in Waipahu, and took externships in restaurants.

The LCC culinary program has enrolled about 70 students this semester. Instructors are looking to expand now, as their new digs allow them to serve more students who'd like a culinary education but can't manage the commute to Kapiolani Community College.

Another $1.9 million will be spent to renovate and expand the Pearl, the fine-dining restaurant that allows students to practice their skills on the dining public. That project should be begin July and end next March, Benavente said.

"It will be a room with a view," she said, referring to the vista of Pearl Harbor, now blocked by brick walls.

Funding for the renovations came from the state budget, bolstered by money raised at the school's annual Taste of the Stars events. Private donations covered some specific needs -- the Hawaiian Island Chefs, for example, provided the last two pieces of equipment, a dough sheeter for specialty pastries and a pasta machine.