Yesterday, ICE alum Amy Eubanks, the Executive Chef at BLT Fish, returned to ICE to demonstrate some of her favorite fish dishes and discuss life in a restaurant kitchen for ICE students.

Eubanks graduated from the Culinary Arts program in 1999. She started working with Laurent Tourondel as an extern at Cello, where she ended up staying for two and a half years. While there she spent a year as poissonier, no small feat considering that the famed restaurant specialized in seafood. Because she wanted to learn how to cook meat, she then went to Cafe Boulud, where she worked with Daniel Boulud and Andrew Carmellini. When Tourondel opened BLT Steak in 2004, he hired her as a lead line cook, followed by a promotion to sous chef. Because of her strong seafood skills, she became sous chef of BLT Fish upon its opening, then chef de cuisine in 2006 and executive chef in March 2010. In 2010, she was inducted into the ICE Alumni Hall of Achievement for her accomplishments. More…

Yesterday, ICE students got to meet with renowned Chef Andrew Carmellini, of Locanda Verde and The Dutch, for a frank conversation about life after culinary school and working in the restaurant business. In addition to leading the kitchen at two incredibly successful restaurants, Carmellini is also author of Urban Italian (Bloomsbury, 2008) and American Flavors (Ecco, 2011). He has worked with Gray Kunz at Lespinasse, at Le Cirque, opened Daniel Boulud’s Cafe Boulud, and has won a Food & Wine’s Best New Chef award as well as two prestigious James Beard Awards.

Moderated by Director of Student Affairs Andy Gold, Carmellini discussed the restaurant business, what it’s like after culinary school, and what is expected of you when you join the ranks of a real restaurant. The candid talk about the realities of the demands that will be placed on you by the chefs and businesses for which you will be working was incredibly informative for ICE students just starting their careers. His advice on how to become a great chef was a chance for them to learn extremely valuable lessons. More…