Patrick E. Ringwald Memorial Culinary Garden Dedicated

The family and friends of the late Patrick E. Ringwald gathered at the Culinary Institute of Charleston Wednesday, April 18, to dedicate a beautiful new culinary garden in Patrick’s memory. Patrick was general manager of The Boathouse restaurant when he was shot and killed during a robbery in 2003. He was widely known and involved in Charleston’s food and beverage industry for more than 20 years.

After his death, his family, friends and colleagues established the Patrick E. Ringwald Memorial Foundation to support hospitality and culinary training in the Lowcountry. The Trident Technical College Foundation and the Ringwald Foundation partnered to create the 4,400-square-foot garden outside the Culinary Institute of Charleston.

The garden was designed by noted landscape architect Shelia Wertimer. It contains four growing areas for herbs and other plants, a water feature and sitting areas. The garden will provide a unique opportunity for Culinary Institute students to grow and harvest herbs and flowers for use in the kitchens of the CIC.

Guest Chefs Series Brings Culinary Stars to CIC Stoves

On Wednesday March 21, Executive Chef Tarver King of the Woodlands Resort & Inn taught a master class on the art of charcuterie in the amphitheater broadcast kitchen at the Culinary Institute of Charleston, concluding the CIC’s fall 2006/spring 2007 Guest Chef Series.
Established to offer experienced leaders in the culinary industry the opportunity to share their knowledge with CIC students, the Guest Chef Series brings these culinary luminaries to the CIC amphitheater broadcast kitchen for live demonstrations of their signature techniques and cooking methods. Outstanding members of the Charleston culinary community who participated in this year’s Guest Chef Series are:
Executive Chef Donald Barickman: Magnolias, Blossom, Cypress
Executive Chef Bob Carter: Peninsula Grill
Executive Chef Marc Collins: Circa 1886
Executive Chef Bobby Duncan: The Beach Club at Kiawah Island
Executive Chef Frank Lee: Slightly North of Broad
Executive Chef Tarver King: The Woodlands Resort & Inn
Executive Chef Frank McMahon: Hank’s Seafood
Executive Chef Ken Vedrinski: Sienna

In addition, national culinary professional, Executive Pastry Chef Michael Liaskonis from the acclaimed New York restaurant, Le Bernardin, gave a class for CIC Advanced Baking students. Chef Laiskonis was recently honored as Outstanding Pastry Chef 2007 by the James Beard Foundation.
GUEST CHEFS SERIES VIRTUAL LIBRARY
The gift of these generous chefs’ time does not end with one day’s appearance. Utilizing its advanced combination of culinary technology and multimedia delivery resources, the Culinary Institute of Charleston is leading the way in partnering with outstanding culinary professionals to create a virtual in-house video educational system to enhance the learning opportunities for the CIC student.

This process is made possible by capabilities of the CIC amphitheater broadcast kitchen, where the prestigious chefs of the Guest Chef Series teach. The CIC professional production team captures each Guest Chef’s lesson on film and produces a DVD, which is saved to a designated space on the TTC computer server. This exclusive video collection, which is easy to access and can be aligned to a particular cooking method studied in class, offers CIC students the unique advantage of learning from these locally and nationally celebrated chefs.