Building Community Through Lunch

Justin DePaola: We don’t buy anything pre-made except for some bread; we bake some of our own too. We smoke our own meat and, roast our own turkey and roast beef, so the meats on the deli bar have been cooked and sliced fresh. We break down meats, so it’s not delivered in pieces. We make all our sauces from scratch, hand press the burgers, shred cheese from blocks and make our own stocks for the soup. As the seasons change, the menus will too, and I look forward to having a seasonal-type flow to the menu.

JD: We really have changed the entire program, so everything is new. Since the beginning of the school year, we have moved some stations around to allow easier flow and adjusted the serving selections and style to accommodate the Middle and Upper School lunch sessions. Naturally, it takes some time to get used to a new system, and we are working out the kinks and thinking of ways to make it better.

JD: The majority of my staff are professionally trained and have worked at hotels, resorts and high-end restaurants. The lead chef, Saeed, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of the Pacific in Hawaii, and I recruited him from the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel in Dana Point. The team is from all different cultures and backgrounds. I use all of their experiences and talents to write the menus and give diversity and authenticity to the selections.

JD: After graduating from The Culinary Institute of America in New York, I started off as a line cook and worked my way up to sous chef working at catering companies, restaurants and hotels before managing a Chipotle for almost five years. I started working for SAGE almost 10 years ago at a school in Florida and jumped at  the chance to move back to San Diego to work at LJCDS four years ago. Growing up, I spent my time in the kitchen watching my Italian grandmother cook and picking up all of her secrets. My wife is from the Caribbean, and we enjoy cooking together and merging our ethnicities. We love infusion cooking, and I like to incorporate that into the LJCDS menus as well.