Pop-up classes · Los Angeles
One-on-one chef apprenticeship in LA kitchens for people starting a cooking career
CASA is not a drop-in cooking class. It is a career program that pairs you one-on-one with a working chef in Los Angeles. Private lessons happen in a commercial kitchen while the restaurant is closed or slow. The Gourmet Chef Program covers 20 courses, from knife skills and the five mother sauces to charcuterie, fish cookery and ServSafe food handler training. It ends with an externship cooking for customers in a real restaurant.
Between sessions you cook along at home with CASA's video series. You can also book time with a second, remote mentor for coaching and tasting notes. You can do the program part time or full time, and nights and weekends are available. LA addresses include S Grand Ave, Selma Ave and Wilshire Blvd. Mentors include Chef Nathan Stewart, an LA private chef who joined in 2022 and tailors each lesson to the mentee.
It suits people who want to cook for a living, from complete beginners to culinary school graduates who want connections. It is not meant as a weekend hobby. Cost is set for each person with a mentee advisor. CASA has a 4.5 Google rating from 35 reviews.
Serious cooks
Multi-week courses and boot camps
Beginners
No experience needed
Written from CASA - The Chef Apprentice School of the Arts’s own site and class listings, October 2026. How we write these
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No. CASA says all you need for the Gourmet Chef Program is a passion for food and the determination to finish it. Complete beginners and culinary school graduates both take part.
No. It is a career program for people who want to work as chefs, and CASA says it is not meant as a weekend hobby.
Each plan is set individually. You work out a plan that fits your budget with a mentee advisor, and CASA says there are no hidden fees.
Lessons are one-on-one in a commercial kitchen, often while the restaurant is closed or slow. You also study at home with videos and finish with an externship in a working restaurant. You can choose part-time, full-time, night or weekend schedules.
There are 20 courses, including knife skills, stocks and the five mother sauces, potato cookery, meat and poultry, fish and shellfish, pasta, charcuterie and garde manger, ServSafe food handler training and a restaurant externship.
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