So please take back all those disparaging things you said about “kids today,” because everything at the Midnight Garden — the buying, preparation and serving of the food — is done by Sycamore juniors and seniors. Kids do it all, and they do it well.

        This was the 10th year that Debbie Klemt's “Gourmet Class” hosted a mini-restaurant project. Ms. Klemt, who teaches family consumer sciences (we used to call it home economics), got the idea after taking the class on a field trip to the Maisonette.

        “The parents thoroughly enjoy it,” she says of the restaurant idea. “And the kids get an understanding of what it's all about.”

        A reservation at Midnight Garden is not easy. Only the first 25 parents and first 25 teachers who respond to invitations get a seat. Some people actually run to Ms. Klemt's office the same day to RSVP.

From left, teacher Debbie Klemt with students Donte Hill and Kristina Caligaris (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        As far as Ms. Klemt knows, Sycamore High is the only school in the Tristate that serves lunch as a class project. Especially on such a grand scale.

        In March, two months before the meal, the class nominates dishes and votes on the menu. Then they begin testing and adapting the recipes.

        “I'd say about 90 percent of what we're serving is original,” says Kristina Caligaris, a senior who serves as co-manager of the restaurant with senior Katie Yakubisin.

        The class tried one potato recipe, but as junior Eric Innes puts it, “they were just boring potatoes.”

        These kids are tough critics. So the young cooks experimented and created “Baked Potato Fans,” which are sliced thinly, fanned, drizzled with a butter-chive-garlic mixture and baked.

        The week of the special lunch, the class compiled a shopping list and a group went out to buy the food. Two days before, they carved pretty vegetable garnishes. One day before, they made desserts and salad dressing.

        Everything was on schedule, but not everything always goes to plan. When Ms. Klemt went to pick up the steaks at the grocery that morning, the 68 beef filets weren't ready. She had to wait an hour, and the kid cooks were already behind.

        But they worked fast and as a team. Ms. Caligaris stuffed pasta shells with cheese, Ms. Yakubisin seared the steaks and Mr. Innes conquered the cutting of cheesecakes. Senior Donte Hill finished baking the French Herbed Chicken, then began helping with another dish. Next, he changed into a snappy black suit and moved to the dining room to work as “host.”

        Even though things were a little stressed back in Ms. Klemt's kitchen (as it can be in any professional restaurant), you couldn't tell it in the serene Midnight Garden dining room. Unlike many restaurants, none of the kids threw a tantrum, walked out or goofed off.

        “There hasn't been a class to disappoint me yet,” Ms. Klemt says.

        For these students, the lessons of operating a restaurant, even for one meal, are plenty. In addition to cooking, the kids learn organization, teamwork and discipline. For those who might be less academically inclined, hearing their teacher or parent rave about their rice pilaf can do wonderful things for their confidence and self-esteem.

        Only a few Sycamore High students will consider the hospitality industry as a vocation. Students take the Gourmet Class for fun or because they like to cook — and eat. They learn about nutrition, safety in the kitchen and to make exotic-sounding things like Parmesan-Rosemary Focaccia and Raspberry Souffle, which are way more impressive than nachos from the microwave.

        “Everyone is going to have to know how to cook,” says Ms. Klemt, explaining the relevance of family consumer sciences. “Because everyone has to eat.”

        But not everyone eats as well as those who take Ms. Klemt's Gourmet Class.

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