Two students will be Chef for a Night at Viale
On Sunday, June 2nd, CSCA alum & Viale Chef Owner Greg Reeves (Professional Chef’s Program class of 2003) welcomes two CSCA second semester CSCA students to “take over” the Viale Kitchen. Sam Amsterdam and Brendan Germain from the Professional Chef’s Program will be joining Greg’s team for the evening to serve their own unique plates in addition to Viale’s usual dinner menu.
Sam Amsterdam
Sam is from Guyana, South America, where her passion for food started at the age of five while watching her mom and grandmother prepare scrumptious meals for their family. Sam grew up on an eclectic fusion of Caribbean, Indian, and African cuisines. As a teenager, Sam migrated to the US with her family, where she lived in New York City and ultimately moved to Boston for college before beginning a career in Biotech. Sam has always found her bliss at the stove or and visiting local markets and restaurants while traveling to experience the local fare. To combine her love of travel and the passion for food, Sam’s dream is to operate her own Bed, Breakfast, and Dinner establishment. After completing her MBA in Entrepreneurship, Sam decided to take the next step toward making her dream a reality at CSCA.
Brendan Germain
Brendan was born in central New Jersey where he watched his parents navigate the industry as waiters, bartenders, restaurant managers, and owners of a wholesale specialty spice and produce distributor which would later evolve into a gourmet deli and catering company. His exposure to their careers and experiences assisting lead to a passion for food at a very young age. In addition to cooking, Brendan has an established career as an information technology professional, specializing in system engineering, designing future technologies to create highly reliable and performant trading systems for NASDAQ’s global stock exchange markets.
They will be preparing three courses to supplement Viale’s usual dinner menu:
- Spicy Calamari with Plantain Chips & Wood Grilled Pineapple Aioli
- Marinated Lamb Skewers with Asparagus Risotto garnished with Toasted Pine Nut Gremolata and Garlic Dill Yogurt Sauce
- Roasted Blood Orange Sorbet garnished with Orange Tuiles and Pink Peppercorns
Call Viale at 617-576-1900, or make a reservation online to support our budding chefs as they experience first hand all of the components that go into planning and executing a menu.
Since graduating from the Professional Chef’s Program, Greg has worked at just about every station in the kitchen under many of Boston’s talented chefs. He worked alongside James Beard Award-winning chef Susie Regis at UpStairs on the Square and ran the South End Operations for the Barbara Lynch Gruppo, including B&G Oysters, Stir, and The Butcher Shop. Greg briefly returned to the heart of Cambridge as Executive Chef position at Green Street before joining the opening team at Pier 6 as Executive Chef. In 2014, Greg opened Viale, the casual, upscale restaurant in Central Square where current CSCA students are often invited to “takeover” the kitchen for one-night immersive experiences. This next event in June will be our 5th CSCA Takeover at Viale Cambridge.
“I already had a lot of cooking experience and knew how to do many things when I applied to CSCA but learning the why and hammering home the basic and vocabulary really helped my career.” – Chef Greg Reeves
