Chic Spotlight: Glendalia Culinary Studio’s Robin Thomas

Robin Thomas, owner of The Glendalia Culinary Studio

Cincy Chic: What’s the idea behind The Glendalia Culinary Cooking Studio?
Robin Thomas, Owner of The Glendalia Culinary Studio: The idea behind the Culinary Studio is from a cooking vacation I took in Italy 2 years ago. It was in this beautiful chateau on top of a hill in Tuscany where I stayed for a week. We would start at 3pm and create our dinner for that evening. I own The Glendalia Boutique Hotel in Glendale which is a 6 room hotel and it seemed like a great fit. I owned the Iron Horse Restaurant for 4 years and had sold it with the idea of doing something more fun.

Cincy Chic: What makes your studio different from other culinary studios?
Thomas: We are about food and entertainment. Most Cooking Classes include eating what you make, the Glendalia is more about the experience of food, friends and fun. We’re offering three different experiences for students:
Our Everyday Gourmet classes are Tuesday and Thursday evenings and are about everyday cooking – pizza, pasta, baking and everyday easy classes. It’s more about technique and you’ll get to eat what you make in these classes.
Our Culinary Journey classes are Friday and Saturday evenings and they are a 4 course hands on gourmet class in a communal environment. The class will have 12 people, friends or strangers it doesn’t matter because by the end everyone is a friend. We will begin by going over the menu and the different techniques involved and then divide everyone up based on their interests to prepare the meal. We will interrupt the class if there is something special everyone needs to know. Once the meal is prepared the group sits in the dining room and the chef and staff plates the meal and they are served like a restaurant. I am also doing a small wine pairing with this meal and everyone is welcome to bring a bottle of wine to enjoy while they are cooking.
Our final offering is a Culinary Bootcamp. This is a 6 week course that is basically a cooking 101. Students will learn from kitchen basics, knife skills, sauteing and roasting. The final will be a dinner party that the group creates the menu and each invite one person to enjoy it. This will be Wednesday evenings, plus the finale is the Sunday following the 5th class. We are targeting the bridal industry because so many moms are too busy these days to teach their daughters how to cook.

Cincy Chic: Who can attend these classes?
Thomas: Classes are really for anyone who has an interest in cooking. We’ll be offering classes for younger adults at some point. Even if you aren’t super comfortable in the kitchen in the team environment, you’ll have others to help you along. We are also perfect for private events, team building, networking, social groups and anyone wanting a culinary experience.

Cincy Chic: What are the costs for attending classes?
Thomas: The classes range from $48.00 to $80.00, and the 6 week bootcamp is $350.00.

Cincy Chic: How has the public responded to the studio since it opened?
Thomas: We have only been open for a couple of weeks but the response has been really positive. We’ve had interest in team building events and we just did a birthday party for a Glendale resident where the class made his birthday cake – carrot, of course.

Cincy Chic: Is there anything new on the horizon for The Culinary Cooking Studio?
Thomas: The Studio is new so we’ll be adding more classes, some get away weekends to include the hotel and next summer, the plans to create an outside garden in the rear of the building to host grilling classes as well as small weddings and private events.

Cincy Chic: Where can we find The Glendalia Culinary Cooking Studio?
Thomas: The Culinary Studio is located in Glendale Village Square at 11 Village Square in Glendale.

Cincy Chic: Where can readers go to learn more and sign up for classes?
Thomas: Our website is www.theglendalia.com. You can click on the Culinary Studio tab which will give some information about the studio and from there you can check out the class schedules.

Cincy Chic readers who want to sign up for a class can receive 25 percent off by using the code CHIC, courtesy of The Glendalia Culinary Cooking Studio.