Cooking class in NYC

June 29, 2015 9:11 AM

I would like to give my boyfriend a cooking class as a birthday present. Any suggestions on where in NYC to go?

My boyfriend has recently gotten interested in cooking and has been trying out increasingly adventurous recipes (when we moved in together a couple years ago, his signature dish was "stick chicken in the oven, cook until cooked;" flash forward to a few nights ago when he made khinkali dumplings from scratch). He's still a newbie, but he seems to be getting a lot of enjoyment out of it, and I think a class would make a good gift. The number of options in this city is a little overwhelming, so a MeFi-approved recommendation would be a big help. I'm envisioning this as a couples activity (I am really not a cook, but would have fun being along for the ride), and we're in Greenwich Village but up for going anywhere in the city.

Important additional consideration: needs to be pescetarian-, vegetarian-, or kosher-friendly.

posted by naoko to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Best answer: Kosher Culinary Arts has couples cooking classes as well as more intensive training classes in both Manhattan and Brooklyn.
posted by Mchelly at 9:20 AM on June 29, 2015

Best answer: ICE, formerly Peter Kump's Cooking School. It was a lot of fun back when I went there.
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:45 AM on June 29, 2015

Seconding ICE! My wife & I took a sushi-making course, and then followed it up with "Knife Skills for Couples", held inauspiciously on March 15th. We both survived.
posted by jeffjon at 10:02 AM on June 29, 2015

These classes from League of Kitchens are on my to-do-someday list, though I haven't actually gone to one myself. They have cooking classes on cuisines from around the world taught by immigrants in their homes.
posted by one little who at 10:22 AM on June 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

I would recommend ICE as but would explicitly not recommend any course with Kathryn Gordon. I had a HORRIBLE experience with her, as did the friend I was taking the course with. Although I think she teaches only baking classes, so if you stay away from those, you're good. I really enjoyed the Thai cooking class I took there a few years ago.
posted by holborne at 10:43 AM on June 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

My wife and I loved the Thai cooking class we took here. The chef/instructor was not only very knowledgeable, but extremely personable; she made it a lot of fun. The food was amazing, everyone got hands-on time, and vegetarian was an option. There were other couples there as well taking the class together. We both thought it was wonderful and highly recommend it.
posted by greenmagnet at 11:08 AM on June 29, 2015

These are much more casual than most of the suggestions here, but I have enjoyed taking the odd cooking class at the Brooklyn Brainery. They have classes coming up on Persian baked goods and Intro to Sichuan cooking -- yum!
posted by LeeLanded at 12:38 PM on June 29, 2015

As mentioned above, ICE is pretty great.

Eataly offers courses as well, although I've heard that they can be a little loud and bridge-and-tunnely with all the good and bad things that come along with that.
posted by yellowcandy at 12:49 PM on June 29, 2015

Best answer: Natural Gourmet. VERY vegetarian/vegan-friendly. I took many fantastic classes there.
posted by Dotty at 4:20 PM on June 29, 2015

It's been a couple of years, but I took a cooking class at Brooklyn Kitchen and really loved it.
posted by bunderful at 5:34 PM on June 29, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks so much everybody! I ended up going with Kosher Culinary Arts (thank you, Mchelly!) for a combination of food options and scheduling considerations reasons, but ICE and Natural Gourmet were also very strong contenders. Assuming that I don't burn anything down and get us permanently banned from the NYC cooking school circuit, we may need to make cooking classes a regular hobby so that we can take advantage of more of your terrific suggestions.
posted by naoko at 10:03 AM on July 2, 2015