GCYC Culinary Department
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The Gary Comer Youth Center serves young people aged 8 to 24 on the Southside of Chicago.
30/08/2021
Registration for Fall programs is now open! We have a buffet of great culinary options available for you and your young person this year!
Comer Cooking Club 1 is an introductory program for middle schoolers to explore the culinary arts! Learn basics kitchen safety, knife skills, and cooking techniques in this program taught by Chefs Jon and Remy! Comer Cooking Club 1 meets from 4-5pm on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Visit comereducationcampus.org for more information on how join and enroll.
07/05/2021
Meet the Black Bean Fajita Burger! Making its menu debut this Summer, this one took some extra time and care to get the recipe just right. Our black bean burger is made from scratch (and VEGAN!) featuring Comer-grown ingredients! Topped with sautéed fajita veggies and nacho cheese 🤤We just know you’re gonna love it, you’re body’s gonna love it, and our planet is gonna love all this plant-based goodness 💙 🌎🧡
Meal Services are FREE and operate Monday through Friday from 4:30-6:30pm at GCYC until May 27! Summer services begin June 21!
02/05/2021
May menu is now available! We have some exciting new dishes to share with you all!
Grab and Go services continue through May 27th. We’re open Monday through Friday 4:30-6:30pm 🍽
We can’t believe it’s been a week since Gary’s Grocery Games! Our young chefs did an amazing job preparing their dishes and plating for the judges!
Congrats again to Chef Leilani!!!
We believe, good food builds community
The Culinary Department provides 4 major services to the campus: daily meal service for our members, out of school time enrichment programming, teen and young adult employment opportunities, and events catering. We approach culinary education in 2 ways: teaching cooking as a vital life skill and teaching cooking as a career path.
We offer programming for all ages that empowers participants to make healthier choices through learning to cook to nourish themselves and their families. Having the ability to feed yourself is a fundamental skill in becoming an independent young adult. On the other side of things, we have our enrichment clubs for high schoolers that focus on learning the business of cooking through entrepreneurship and social enterprise. Where teens can get their feet wet in the culinary industry with low stakes and having fun with their friends.
We hire 6 young people aged 16 to 24 annually as Culinary Apprentices to work in the kitchen and further explore Culinary Arts as a career path. Our apprentices work alongside adult career cooks and staff all of our major catering events. They're taught the business side of the operation as well by running their own weekly food service operation during the school year. Our catering operation covers everything from small lunches during a meeting, to end of year pizza parties, to 3-day 400 person conferences for external clients. It's all made possible through the Apprentice program and all proceeds are funneled back into our department operations.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we were able to take all of our middle school programming online. Through Jewel Osco's grocery delivery service, students safely received a weekly grocery delivery with ingredients for the week's cook along. Each week, they tuned in via Google Hangouts to receive instruction on the week's recipes and prepare a healthy meal for themselves and their families. It was amazing to see parents, grandparents and older siblings jump in as their middle schoolers' "sous chef".
