As Program Director for the San Diego Culinary Institute since 2005, Chef Larry Lewis has been a driving force behind the rigorous and comprehensive educational standards and has been responsible for composing the instructional curriculum of the revolutionary Commis Culinary Program.
SDCI's President, David Badagliacca, recruited Larry to join the school based on his peerless experience as both a Chef and a culinary educator. But perhaps more important to their collaboration, was Larry's fierce dedication to the same ideals on which SDCI was founded.
Over the 33 years of Larry's culinary career, it has taken him to Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, Portland, London, Paris, Tokyo, Sao Paolo and now San Diego. He served as a Chef and Executive Chef over the course of some 8 years with the Harvey's Hotel and Resort in Lake Tahoe. In that position he managed all kitchen operations, including 10 restaurants, room service, and active banquet operations. He managed a staff of up to 400, including 3 Chefs de Cuisine.
In 1987, Larry left Harvey's to pursue his interest in culinary education. In that year, he joined the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon. His talent in classroom and his organizational precision earned him the title of Executive Chef within 6 months of joining Western Culinary. The school later sold and became part of a large chain of schools owned and managed by CEC, which soon acquired the license to the Cordon Bleu trademark in North America. Larry traveled all over the country to supervise the curricula of all the schools under the CEC banner, and to standardize their programs of study to better match the Cordon Bleu requirements.
After that experience, Larry sought an opportunity to take a new step in his career and to implement new ideas in education. Andre Cointreau, owner of Le Cordon Bleu International, asked Larry to join his organization to improve the standards and curriculum of the original Le Cordon Bleu operation. Larry jumped at the chance. That experience took him to Tokyo, Paris, London, and Sao Paolo, where he helped to design the classrooms and workspace and where he created and implement curricula specific to each locale.
Since joining the San Diego Culinary Institute, he has created the Commis Culinary curriculum, implementing the ideals with which Harold Meyberg founded the school and new concepts in culinary education that he developed with the school President, David Badagliacca. Larry considers his opportunity at SDCI to represent the culmination of his career.
Larry has competed in numerous ACF and International food competitions. He has earned an assortment of Gold, Silver, Bronze, First Place, and "Best of Show" awards in Hot Food, Cold Food Salon, and Ice Carving categories. In 1994, he was recognized as "Oregon Chef of the Year". The State of Oregon awarded him the Teachers' Excellence Award. He is a co-author of Catering Solutions (Prentice Hall Publishing) and authored articles published by The National Culinary Review and Bouquet Garni. He also appears in and produced a series of educational cooking videos (with Wyden-Kennedy).