Sur La Table Cooking Class

My poor husband booked this as a surprise thinking it would be a romantic date night alternative. We went to the Date Night French Riviera cooking class. Still not sure what makes this a date night, but perhaps cooking classes just aren’t my style.
First off, it really is a group effort. You work with 3 or 4 other couples as a group to prepare the meals. I would think that for the price ($ 70 a person) and the «date night» advertisement that it would be set up where couples are cooking and preparing together. It’s also not a very social environment and it just felt awkward working with the other couples when I’d just like to cook with my husband.
I really tried to be optimistic about the food. When I looked over the menu it didn’t really sound like my style, but again, my husband booked this so I didn’t get to look at the menu beforehand. The food was mediocre and you share your food with your date so the portions aren’t great. Everyone at my table was silent while eating — I don’t consider this a good sign. I love to enjoy food and try new dishes, but none of these dishes were exciting or challenging.
Here’s the menu:
Perfect omelette with fine herbs and goat cheese
Seared cod with tapenade
Shaved radish and asparagus salad
Rhubarb mille-​feuille with vanilla pastry cream
The omelette was ok, but had way too much goat cheese, the cod was overpowered by capers and the olive tapenade, and the salad was incredibly bland. The only thing that I liked was the dessert. It should be also noted that there is no alcohol included in the evening. Not even a glass of wine with dinner. Other couples said that you could bring your own wine, but for $ 70 a person I could’ve gone to a nice French restaurant in the area and had a meal prepared for me that had better portions, excited my tastebuds and was served with a glass of wine.
Pros:
–Learned a few new tips (how to properly hold a knife, how to warm milk without scolding)
–10% discount on a purchase that you make that day
–A good class for cooking beginners
Cons:
–Expensive and not a good value
–No alcohol
–Awkward social environment
–Portion sizes vary
–Not informative if you’re beyond a beginner in the kitchen
I might try a french pastry or macaron class, but only if it’s drastically discounted. This experience was a big disappointment.

My friend and I were looking for something interactive to do around the city and heard about these classes. There’s a variety of class options and they give the menu in the description which is helpful in deciding. We went with Thai cooking because that’s not something you get to do everyday and hoped to walk away with a few good tips.
Pros:
— Food was really good (Very excited to make pad thai at home)!
— Instructor was enthusiastic about food and sharing his knowledge/​tips.
— Very accommodating to my friends food allergy
Cons:
— Price ($ 70/​person)
— Not a ton of food so walked away hungry
— No wine or other drinks
— Nice crowd but somewhat awkward environment to interact (I know its a class not a party but would have been nice to have more of a dinner party feel…)
I would try another class but not at full price. I enjoyed the experience and trying something new but feel that it’s a bit overpriced. I would definitely recommend going with a group of people to make it more social and have fun with friends.

Not worth it for the price. My girlfriend and I took the «cut like a pro» class and it was disappointing to say the least. It was almost two and a half hours long from 630 – 9 pm. All we did was cut different vegetables. I also assumed that since it was still a cooking class and scheduled from 630 – 9, some sort of dinner would be involved. We ended up getting a little slice of an egg tostada at around 845. Definitely disappointed, I felt like I learned nothing about cutting and the instructor was very full of himself.

So I’d probably give this experience 2.5 stars, but I feel bad doing that. So 3 it is.
I was looking for a non traditional date night idea and stumbled upon Jamie F’s review of SLT. I was able to snag a similar $ 34 deal for a 3 course evening in Tuscany. I guess I shouldn’t be shocked to discover that the entrée was also salmon + green beans.
If I’m being honest, the food was 2 stars. I remember looking at the salmon and thinking «wow what a great portion.» Lol. that’s because you’re splitting it with your date. It was good, but there was not enough for 2. The appetizer was a caprese salad with pickled fennel. Wouldn’t really be my first choice. For desert we had a fruit tart. Not sure the dough was fully cooked though. Best part of the meal was the whipped cream that the chef made herself.
Bottom line, for a $ 70 «dinner,» I would much rather have gone to an actual restaurant and eaten a normal meal where I don’t feel like I’m being rushed out of there because the show is over and the staff wants to go home.
If they added booze to this, it would have been a much more enjoyable experience.

A couple weekends ago, my girl friends and I participated in the «Date Night: Tour of France» hands-​on cooking class at Sur La Table Copley, taught by Chef Ericka. SLTC had a special promotion: $ 33.96 per person — includes lesson, a 3-​course meal prepared by you and your class, and a 10% off coupon to use at any SLT — really awesome deal.
I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous since this was my first cooking class and I don’t cook very often, def nothing fancy. So yes, I was afraid of replicating horror scenes from Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. The class at SLTC turned out to be beginner-​friendly, educational, and fun!
A total of 10 people showed up for the Saturday evening class (the room could prob fit about 16 students total). It was a group effort in prepping & cooking everything from scratch for our whole class over the course of 2 hours with a 15-​min bathroom break/​waiting for the food to finish baking. During the break, we browsed the store, ogling at all the beautiful kitchen goodies. Ugh, must… resist…urge…to buy everything in sight.
On the menu:
* thyme & gruyère gougeres (basically, cheese puffs)
* dijon crusted salmon with lemon vinaigrette
* roasted green beans with citrus, herb and capers
* bittersweet chocolate torte
Overall, the food tasted OK for a product of cooking newbs. The salmon was slightly undercooked, the green beans were tough to chew, and the torte crust could have been baked for longer. Don’t get me wrong, I was definitely full by the end.
Chef Ericka (who has worked alongside celeb Boston chefs) was an experienced, patient, and helpful instructor, supervising us in every step. She showed us how to chop ingredients and hold the knife properly, etc; explained the different kitchen gadgets and why using certain ingredients was better than others, etc.; answered all of our questions; and never made us feel inferior.
Docking 1 star for a few things:
— our instructor completely forgot a step in the green beans recipe
— we had to stand while eating our dinner
— the only drink available was (filtered tap) water; it’d be nice to complement our meal with a glass of wine.
— when my friend was de-​glazing the pan, it actually exploded a few times and splashed sprinkles of hot oil all over her (totally not her fault). Fortunately, she didn’t get burned. However, the instructor and assistants could have showed a little more concern.
In the end, my girls and I had a great time (despite the mishap), learned some domesticated skills, and ate a decent meal. Can’t complain, esp. at the promo price. This is a great low-​key activity with friends or for a date night!
PS. Remember to wear closed-​toe shoes and tie your hair up!