Dining at The Art Institute of Seattle

Your chance to help others just by eating

For some time, we've known about the culinary program at The Art Institute of Seattle. We've known that they have a dining room called the Portfolio Restaurant that is open to the public. We know it gets good reviews. We know it helps students get real-life experience. We know it's a good thing. Have we ever gone? Oh, no. Probably a lot like you. Fortunately for us, we know Dieter Schafer, the restaurant manager/sommelier/ maitre d'Hotel/instructor. He invited us to experience a wine tasting and dinner and we're glad he did.

Beaujolais Nouveau 2002 Festival Chairman, Dieter Schafer

Between 4 and 6 p.m. on Fridays, Dieter holds a wine tasting (anytime you're thinking about going to The Art Institute, call ahead—it is a school and there are breaks when no students are around). Six wines are tasted, you get printed tasting tips and paper to take notes on each wine, and you get Dieter's knowledge which is worth the price of admission alone. Actually, he's worth much more than the $12 charge. The night we were there, we tasted wines from Wilridge Winery, Wineglass Cellars, Apex Cellars and Willis Hall Winery. John Bell, the owner/winemaker from Willis Hall, was there to talk about his wines.

Portfolio Restaurant opened in 1997 and since then a series of Chef Instructors have passed on the art of culinary to many students. These include Chef David Wynne who has for the last three years headed the lunch and dinner programs at the Portfolio Restaurant and Chef Harry Mills (a graduate of the very first class) who most recently was dinner chef just before moving to the newest Purple Cafe & Wine Bar at 4th and University in downtown Seattle as their sous chef. The dining room is small and on any evening can only handle 45 people total. As for the menu, Harry explained "We change the lunch menu quarterly. We try to be seasonal at dinner, so we keep the menu small and avoid farmed or frozen fish. We do pastry desserts like crème brûlé and simple tartlets. Soups are all vegetarian. I create a lot of the menu, but the students are completely in charge of the amuse bouche and they also create the soups from what we have on hand. Wines change quarterly."

As an example of the kind of choices you have on the menu, the spring course we saw had grilled beef hanger steak with crisp mushroom bread pudding, baby green beans and a Dijon mustard-chive aioli; black-pepper crusted port tenderloin with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, melted leeks and baby spinach and a roasted garlic demi-glace; seared Alaskan halibut with beluga lentils, pea vine salad and roasted lemon vinaigrette and sweet pea cream; spring vegetable and caramelized onion ravioli with wilted frisée and escarole, and Mrs. Bragg's organic apple cider and brown butter. Prices ranged from $11-14. You also have first courses to choose from as well as desserts. For $18, you can have a three-course meal (starter, entrée, dessert). Add wine and it's $29. They have a decent wine list, too.

From the dining room, you can see the pastry kitchen as well as the "regular" kitchen. But the best view is out the large windows overlooking Seattle's downtown waterfront and Elliott Bay. The room itself is nothing special (besides the fact that you can watch kitchen activity as well as boating activity), but tables are covered with white linens and fresh flowers.

Each person working at the restaurant is learning their trade—the host who takes your name and seats you, the servers, the line cooks, pastry chefs, etc. Students rotate every three weeks and learn the dining room, back line, prep and so on. They also learn about inventory and the business part of being in the restaurant industry. When they finish their course of study, they hold a special five-course event. "It's always packed," says Dieter.

Dieter with students June 2006, courtesy of Art Institute Student T. Chizuko

Dieter brings extensive knowledge of the industry to share with students. He's worked overseas in interesting places like Ankara, Turkey, teaching restaurant management at Bilkent University. He came to Seattle because his wife is from Olympia and ended up working at the Rainer Club. He was the first instructor hired at the school. The second (hired the same day) was Dan Thiessen who has made his mark at great local restaurants—Space Needle, Chandler's, Salty's and is now looking to open his own place. Dieter went overseas again, this time to West Africa for a year to run a hotel school. But he's returned to The Art Institute and is a tireless promoter of the culinary program.

Along with fine dining and wine tasting, the school provides wine and food events in private homes, assistance at culinary events (as an example, there were students at the recent Ponti patio party handling duties like oyster shucking) and assistance at wine events.

Bottom line, if you haven't tried the Portfolio Restaurant, you should. Dieter invited us, now let this be your invitation to experience fine dining at incredible prices with a great view.

Gay Douglas/July 2006

Other culinary schools you can support through dining:

South Seattle Community College, 206-764-5344
Alhadeff Grill—upscale a la carte, high tea, grand buffet, some catering
Bernie's Pastry Shop
Café Alki—bistro-style

Seattle Central Community College, 206-587-5424
Chef's Express for lunch (closed when school is out)
Square One Bistro—seasonal Northwest menu
One World Dining—international menu
The Buzz—pastries and desserts