Seattle Culinary Academy at Seattle Central College

Seattle Culinary Academy is the career cooking school at Seattle Central College, at 1701 Broadway on Capitol Hill. It runs two programs: Culinary Arts and Specialty Desserts & Breads. This is training for people who want to work in food, not a drop-in evening class. The college reports that 97% of its graduates find job placement.

Students train in a 30,000-square-foot facility with an exhibition kitchen and bakery, a demonstration classroom and a chocolate production room. The One World kitchen was modeled on the Per Se kitchen in New York. Chef instructors include Kären Jurgensen, who founded the school's sustainability curriculum in 2005, and Drew Flanders, who teaches butchery, charcuterie and fermentation. Varin Keokitvon, known to students as Chef V, is a Laos-born alumnus who has won international cooking competitions.

You can taste the students' work without enrolling. They run the One World and Square One restaurants, which serve lunch Tuesday through Friday, plus The Buzz pastry case. The school has a 4.8 Google rating from 8 reviews.