Tess’ Kitchen Store: Sampling their new cooking classes

On Wednesday night, we joined about 12 others for a cooking class at Tess’ Kitchen Store in downtown Grass Valley, a fun and educational experience.

Starting next month, Tess’ will offer cooking classes for the first time in a new “restaurant quality” kitchen. They include “Holiday Entertaining,” “Comfort Foods,” a “Valentine’s Couples Dinner,” “Shellfish” and more. Several already are sold out, a testament to the demand and loyalty of Tess’ customers. The classes are limited to 14 people.

The classes are part of Tess’ plan to provide a kitchen retail store that provides the best quality tools, as well as support its customers who enjoy honing their cooking skills.

The classes are taught by a Culinary Institute of America in-house chef, Roberta DesBuillons. Rebecca previously has been the chief chef and owner of a San Francisco-based cooking school.

Our menu was exquisite. It was easy, though, thanks to Roberta’s approach. Our 10-year-old son joined us, and he was able to follow along.

The appetizer was a Yukon Gold potato pancake with Crème fraîche and caviar with side salad, and homemade vinaigrette.

The entree was Sole stuffed with seafood and topped with a creamy hollandaise; oven roasted asparagus with prosciutto; and lemon saffron cuscus.

Dessert was cream puffs.

We all participated in the cooking: from peeling potatoes to stuffing the Sole with a Scallop Mousse.

We sipped wine from Pilot Peak Winery along the way.

Roberta is an approachable, congenial and experienced teacher and host. She was joined by Owner Steve Rosenthal, who is highly knowledgeable in cooking.

We had an “intermission” to visit the expansive, two-level cooking store and bought a few gadgets. There is a 10 percent discount for all cooking class participants.

You can learn about the classes and sign up for them here.

A video of Tess’ expanded store in downtown Grass Valley is here. A previous article from our magazine is here.