Atelier 317 and the chef who hated culinary school

(Updated 5:12 p.m.) It's hard to believe that chef, restaurateur, and food journalist Stephanie Zubiri hated culinary school.

In her case, she trained at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. But there she was, saying it anyway in that casual, self-assured tone that someone usually takes when they say they detest prunes or cigarette smoke.

 

That's not to say she doesn't believe in culinary school, only that it wasn't for her.

"I just like to eat and travel and so I pursued my studies in history and geography," she said in her inviting, sunlit voice.

 

"I'm a different chef, I don't like being in the kitchen all the time," she went on. "I like the sharing and giving aspect of eating, of dining out."

 

A different chef indeed—unlike most chefs, culinary school was really not in Zubiri's plans.

 

An unexpected gap year

 

She fell into the catering industry rather by chance, when one of her mother's friends whom she had cooked for invited her to be a guest chef for two months at the now-defunct Restaurant 12 in Greenbelt.

 

"And I said, 'ohh, why not?' I took a gap year, went to culinary school," she shared.

 

Eventually, Zubiri toned down on the catering and opened a private kitchen, in a Makati neighborhood, which turned out to be a success. Before leaving the food industry to do food journalism—she has a well-read food column in The Philippine Star—Zubiri decided to take her business a step further and open a restaurant, which she did just last November.

The restaurant is called Atelier 317, an unassuming place whose fancy name belies its welcoming atmosphere—much like the chef herself, come to think of it.

 

Its location within a residential area near Rockwell only highlights its homey vibe, and walking to the restaurant feels a little like going to grandma's place for lunch.  

Walk inside and the feeling of being at home is made consistent. There are quirky, mismatched tables and colorful tableware all bathed in the copious amounts of sunlight streaming through the windows.

 

The menu is familiar, with touches of fancy. The dishes are those we grew up with, have memories of, watched our mothers make, but at Atelier 317, they are updated or given a special a twist. And though it is just a few months old, the restaurant was voted by foodies as one of the top three new restaurants of 2012, reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

 

Growing up with great cooks

 

Chef Stephanie had always loved food, of course, growing up in a big family with great cooks on both sides.

 

"Every Sunday we'd have family dinner. For me the most important [part] is who you share your food with, cooking something special, and I have a lot of very vivid memories, and fond memories of my childhood related around food, so you know it's just inevitable," she shared.

 

Still, as a young foodie, she never dreamed of making a career in the food industry, and grew up instead wanting to be a writer.

 

"But that didn't remove the fact that I loved to eat," she said, adding that she would also cook a lot for her parents and their friends.

 

While the gap year that was culinary school simply proved too stringent for the free-spirited chef, the experience gave her a good foundation for the culinary arts.

 

"I hated it in the beginning because it was so strict and rigid. But I keep going back to it because you need a solid base, and then you can build from that," she said.

 

And build from it she did. After returning from culinary school, Zubiri started holding cooking classes from her own kitchen, an idea given to her by her mother.  

The classes then evolved into a catering business when one of her students asked Zubiri to cater for her birthday party.

 

"From that, I had other clients. So, okay, why not, let's see, let's try," she said.

Atelier 317

 

Chef Stephanie's resto menu speaks for itself with its taste and creativity. Atelier 317's kesong puti is flamed and topped on tomatoes bathed in olive oil. The lasagna is made with mushrooms and truffle paste and the adobo is bathed in balsamic vinegar. Gyoza is stuffed with spiced lamb. And they are all surprisingly affordable too.

 

Zubiri shared that the restaurant is actually a "creative space" (thus the name) where she and her friends can learn and experiment.

 

That the place is a collaboration of sorts between her and her friends is probably one of the reasons why the place is just bursting with good vibes.

 

"I like to work with other chefs. I'm the first to recognize my weaknesses and faults. I'm bad at desserts and pastries. I can't bake a cake to save my life and I have lots of friends who are good at that, in the industry. So I create desserts with them," she said, explaining that they serve desserts by Casa San Luis, ice cream by Pinkerton, and cupcakes by Sweet Patti Cakes.

 

"I'm not trying to prove a point in the kitchen. I want to work with other people so I can learn new stuff and teach them also new stuff," she added. "For me, that's the fun part, that's why it's 'atelier.'"

 

Chef with a bright smile

 

Of course, a lot of the restaurant's cozy charm has to do also with Zubiri's bright smile, and her easy, friendly manner.

 

Diners bid her goodbye before they leave, complimenting the food, thanking her for the wonderful lunch, and their thanks bring the biggest smile to her face.

 

"I decorated the place, I love how it looks, and I love talking to people so I talk to all my clients. I'm the host. That's what I love the most," she quipped.

 

"I think ultimately, I'm a diner and not a chef so I wanna give to other people a nice dining experience. Affordable food, good quality, a nice place. Unpretentious. I let myself be inspired by travels," she said.

 

"Unpretentious" is perhaps the perfect word to describe the restaurant started by an unconventional chef who hated culinary school but loved food so much she went anyway.

 

"Many people open restaurants or businesses with really fancy ambitions. A lot of it are vanity projects. But this is really a passion project for me," she said. – KDM/KG, GMA News