Culinary students are on a mission

Eric Leake

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 | 4:02 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: October 16, 2004

In the back of the Las Vegas Rescue Mission kitchen is a steam kettle used for heating the usual bean soup. On a recent Saturday it sat cold.

The Community Culinary Volunteers had taken over the kitchen, and tonight mission residents and people off the street would be eating steak.

"I think they're going to eat better than I do tonight." Matthew Dullenkopf said, though he allowed that "bean soup is healthy."

But, Keith Anderson added, "How many times can you eat bean soup in a month?"

Dullenkopf and Anderson founded the Community Culinary Volunteers during the summer with fellow students from the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. Each weekend some of the roughly 45 members go to kitchens at the mission or the Shade Tree shelter.

It's the first time for some of the budding chefs to practice in a working kitchen.

"This way they're not only helping hone their skills, they're really learning the importance of what food can bring to a community in need," said Jodi Gutstein, Le Cordon Bleu marketing manager.

"We're very proud of them."

The volunteers don't know what they'll be cooking or the number of meals until they arrive at the kitchens. They work with a random assortment of ingredients donated by local cooking schools and restaurants.

The students are warned that they could have to cook for as many as 500 people, but "we don't have a reservation book so we don't know who's showing up," Dullenkopf said.

"It's definitely an 'Iron Chef' kind of thing," Dullenkopf said.

This Saturday the menu was tri-tip roast or steak, potatoes O'Brien with bell peppers, tossed salad, and a dessert of poached apples.

Mission director Merlyn Sexton said the volunteers not only improve the food, they improve the kitchen and help train mission residents.

"What they're able to provide is more in-depth training for the ladies and gentlemen that we have working in the kitchen. They're able to give them some insights that they wouldn't normally have," Sexton said.

He said the mission has always had volunteers, especially during the holidays, but that the culinary volunteers have a lot more expertise than the typical Thanksgiving volunteer.

Dullenkopf said the kitchen even seems to stay cleaner since the chefs started visiting.

While a half dozen culinary volunteers grilled steaks and cored apples, Ralph Sharp busied himself with dishes. He set a pitcher of red Kool-Aid on every table.

He stopped when he saw a man with a notepad. "Are you a reporter?" he asked. "They are a blessing to the mission. Write that in big, bold letters."

Sharp is a 47-year-old mission resident from San Jose, Calif., who handles the kitchen chores. He said the volunteers' work shows they care about their community, and "we learn a lot from them."

After finishing his plate, a man who said his name was Ed, said the food was "way above minimal standards."

Many of the mission residents look for jobs in the food and service industries. Ed, who said he is a 48-year-old former schoolteacher from New York, said that volunteers can also serve as role models for people who need to know that it's not too late to start anew.

"It's definitely uplifting, it absolutely is," he said of seeing them in the kitchen. "These are not typical college-age students. These are adults going back to school."

Dullenkopf is 33 and spent years managing a kitchen in Florida before moving to Las Vegas for a chance to move up in the booming culinary scene here. Anderson is 31.

"I've been at the point of being down and out in my life, not having anything, and working my way up," Anderson said. That was part of his impetus to volunteer.

Volunteer Marnise Campbell, who spent some time dishing up food, said, "I'm gaining more experience." And it was a good feeling for her to help people who are "worthy," she said.

As residents put their dirty dishes in bins and left the dining hall, before doors were open to the streets, they shouted compliments to the chefs.

Dullenkopf said he could have spent his Saturday afternoons watching college football but at the mission "we get 300 thank you's a day."