Although the paint is barely dry on the walls, the vibes from the fledgling Cook Studio Café are contagious. Excitement, enthusiasm, high spirits, learning and fun fuel this new dining spot. This is a café with a difference and it’s not just the location that sets it apart.

The Cook Studio Café houses a 45-seat café, a take-out deli and a bakeshop. More importantly, it is a cook training facility for area Youth at Risk and a community kitchen workshop. The teen-age students in the program (10 in each six month session) receive professional training and learn the skills and attitudes needed to make it in the hospitality industry. In addition to running a full-service restaurant and bakery, they will help to put on wellness, nutrition and cooking workshops for local residents and community groups.

Funded by Human Resource Development Canada, the program is in the competent hands of the Food & Service Resource Group. Top toque James Kennedy, Chef/Instructor Ted Klaver and Café Manager Tracy Cooper have a wealth of experience including teaching government cook training programs, the Cook Red Seal Program and the Certified Chef de Cuisine Program, the Provincial Food and Beverage Server Apprenticeship Program in addition to companies and restaurant management. Seems like the right folks are in the drivers’ seats.

How keen are these kids? Well, the program is now in its fourth month and just one student has dropped out. As one pair of up-beat, high energy guys grinned, “We’re best friends and we love this.”

This is a training café and a few bumps are a given but you can expect good food. The doors open September 17 at 8 a.m. and commuters and early birds can stop in for coffee and freshly baked muffins, biscotti and cinnamon buns and take-out deli items. On-street parking is plentiful and there are no restrictions.

Lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. and although I visited before it was officially open, I can vouch that the Cook Studio Café is all about flavour, fun and value. Expect made-from-scratch everything (this is a school after all), tasty, heaping plates and modest prices. I’ll be back to check out such offerings as a ham and cappicollo melt on fresh baked foccacia, a maple grilled chicken breast, a yam crusted salmon and the char broiled steak with nothing over $6.95. Pastas are plentiful with choices like Mexican lasagna and Spanish seafood linguini and at an easy-on-the-wallet $5.50, burgers and pizzas are menu staples. There’s lots more but you’ll have to see for yourself.

Drop by and be pleasantly surprised. You’ll spend a little and eat well. And you know what? This is probably the only area in Vancouver that I haven’t been ‘spare changed.’

374 Powell Street
604-696-9096