We Went There: Spoon and Spindle Cooking Class
Spoon and Spindle Executive Chef Zachary Andrews has made it his goal to bring eclectic fine dining experiences to his customers in the Orange community. Now, he’s giving them an opportunity to create their own culinary masterpieces.
Throughout January, February and March, Spoon and Spindle is offering a series of Saturday night cooking classes. Participants receive an introduction to a particular world cuisine, watch Chef Andrews demonstrate cooking techniques, try their own hand at a recipe or two, and enjoy the fruits of their labor together over a four-course dinner.
My date and I signed up for one of the “Japanese-inspired” classes, and on a dark and chilly evening, we shuffled into the restaurant’s spacious kitchen, where we were greeted by several other students and steaming cups of citrusy green tea.
Chef Andrews is clearly both knowledgeable and passionate in his area of expertise, with a teaching style that combines the technical aspects of cooking with a humble, no-nonsense approach. During the class, we covered everything from science (why keeping tempura batter cold leads to a crispier product) to linguistics (the root words behind popular methods of Japanese cooking) to how to have fun at your own dinner party (prep everything).
The chef’s down-to-earth style also made it much less intimidating when the time finally came for students to show off what we had learned. After receiving instructions as a group, the participants got to roll their own sushi to share with the class. Despite my own inexperience and a couple of small mishaps along the way, I was able to assemble an acceptable-looking and delicious smoked salmon roll on my first attempt with guidance from Chef Andrews.
The overall atmosphere of the class makes perfect sense in the context of Andrews’ larger mission to make fine dining more approachable and accessible. Andrews has trained and worked throughout the country for Michelin-starred chefs, but his ultimate dream has always been to bring those skills back home to Virginia. Instead of opening a restaurant in an already oversaturated market in a larger city, he wanted to make a different kind of impact by offering a high-quality, eclectic menu in a less likely location.
“I’m happy to do this in Orange because it really grows the food scene here and in Virginia,” Andrews remarked. “Why not do it here?”
Setting up shop in Orange also means that prospective chefs in central Virginia can gain skills that they otherwise would have to travel outside the region to learn. Chef Andrews’ sous chef, Kyler Rudy, assisted during the cooking class. A young man of unusual poise and dedication, Rudy hopes to eventually attend culinary school himself.
As we watched Rudy meticulously arrange each individual piece of vegetable tempura before carefully dropping the batch into hot oil, it was apparent that both the attention to detail and the love that characterize Andrews’ cooking have been passed on to him as well.
“That’s why [Rudy] got sous chef—he takes it seriously,” Andrews said. “It’s a hard industry, but I want this to be a place where people can be excited to come here and learn.”
Based on our experience, the cooking classes at Spoon and Spindle are just that—a place where people can be excited to go and learn something new.
Spoon and Spindle is located at 323 N. Madison Road Suite H, in the old Silk Mill building in downtown Orange. To learn more about the cooking classes offered there, visit www.spoonandspindle.com/cooking-classes.