The Culinary Education Center, a nonprofit that trains cooks for jobs in New York and New Jersey kitchens, has a new training kitchen and classroom space in Woodside at 33-51 62nd St. The center calls it the Queens Cook Space, and it is hosting an open house there today, Thursday, Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Anyone is welcome to stop by, tour the facility, meet the staff and hear about the programs.

What the center teaches

The center trains students in core cooking methods, including baking, roasting, grilling and steaming, and pairs that kitchen work with lessons in nutrition, food safety and how a professional kitchen runs. Its graduates go on to work in restaurants, hotels, schools, corporate dining rooms and health care settings.

Its main offering is a free Line Cook Apprenticeship that runs for eight weeks. The center describes it as the equivalent of a first semester of culinary school, taught with the same textbook used at the Culinary Institute of America. Students split their time between classroom instruction and hands-on work in a fully equipped kitchen. The curriculum covers kitchen math, kitchen and knife safety, fine knife skills, cooking techniques, poultry, meat and fish fabrication, and plating, along with the organization and speed a busy line demands.

Students who finish the apprenticeship leave with several credentials: a ServSafe New York Food Handler certification, a CEC certificate, a certification from the New York State Division of Apprenticeship Standards and a U.S. Department of Labor certification. The center then helps graduates move into union jobs that pay union wages and come with benefits.

To qualify, applicants must be at least 18, fluent in English and able to read at a ninth grade level.

More courses on the way

Beyond the apprenticeship, the center runs shorter upskilling classes for people already working in food service. A Culinary Basics course covers knife handling, plating, safety standards, food temperatures and kitchen documentation, and includes ServSafe certification. A separate ServSafe Food Handler course teaches safe cooking, cooling and storage, personal hygiene, cleaning and sanitizing, and safe receiving and handling of food. The center says 2026 dates for these classes will be posted soon.

The center also lists programs in development: a barista and latte art apprenticeship that it says is the first of its kind in the country, a bartender and mixologist apprenticeship, and a five-week pre-apprenticeship for prep cooks. It also offers an English as a Second Language class focused on kitchen vocabulary, digital tools and job searching, held Tuesdays through Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m. at its Manhattan office, and has a citizenship preparation course in the works.

Who runs it

The Culinary Education Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded through a partnership between food service employers and UNITE HERE Local 100, the union that represents hospitality workers across the region. Its stated goal is to connect training, labor and industry so that workers can build long careers in hospitality.

The Woodside kitchen joins the center's other sites: a course kitchen at 50 E. 168th St. in the Bronx, an office and secondary kitchen at 1401 Inwood Ave. in the Bronx, and the union's offices at 275 Seventh Ave. in Manhattan. The new location puts training within reach of Queens residents who would otherwise travel to the Bronx for class.

The center's leadership team includes lead chef instructor Eric Pellizzari, chef instructor Vanessa Ceballos, deputy director Jennifer Cruz and outreach coordinator Oneida Martinez.

Getting there

The Queens Cook Space is on 62nd Street in Woodside, several blocks north of the 61 St-Woodside station, which is served by the 7 train and the Long Island Rail Road. The Q66 bus runs along Northern Boulevard, a short walk away.

How to sign up

The open house runs today, Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 33-51 62nd St., Woodside. People who cannot make it can register online for an upcoming information session about the Line Cook Apprenticeship, which is the first step toward enrolling. The registration form is available in English and Spanish. Questions can go to info@cec100.org, and course updates are available through the center's email newsletter.

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