VO-TECH MINI-RESTAURANT GOOD TRAINING FOR STUDENTS, GOOD EATING FOR ITS LOYAL CLIENTELE

Something's cooking at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School.

A course at the school is turning out not just down-home-style meals for its hungry and appreciative diners, it is also turning out skilled graduates who are putting their culinary talent to work in many areas of the food service industry.

At the heart of the course is the "Mini-Restaurant," a seven-table, three-booth restaurant with a small but loyal clientele.

Not many people know that the facility is even open to the public, notes Mary Ann Pensel, who teaches the commercial food career courses and oversees the operation of this unique restaurant.

"We can seat about 40 persons at any one time, and the restaurant is open from 11:15 to 1:15 Tuesday through Friday," said Pensel. "We're feeding about 50 to 65 guests a day."

Occasionally, the restaurant provides food service for a small luncheon.

"We really surprise people with our menu and service," added Pensel.

"We" are students who fill the positions at the training site for commercial food career students at the Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School, 301 N. Clark.

Among this year's students are:

-- Wanda Dykes, a junior at Jackson High School who wants to specialize in cookery.

-- Rick Garza, an adult student from Portageville who has his sights set on becoming a top chef.

-- Pauline Ruhl-Cain, an adult student who favors the catering business.

"We have a total of 20 students this year," said Pensel, who has been an instructor in the food management classes almost 17 years. "Three of the students are adults who are attending full-day classes and will complete the course in one year.

"Others are students at various area high schools. They will complete the course over a two-year period."

The students operate the Mini-Restaurant from November through March of each year.

"They work every position, from bus-person and waitress to chef, cashier and restaurant manager," explained Pensel. "They prepare the menu, purchase the food and oversee the complete operation."

During the early weeks of the school year, students are taught skills and how to operate pieces of equipment in the restaurant, noted Pensel. "This prepares them to operate the 'front' and `back' of the restaurant."

Following the first weeks of "basic" training, students take turns at the various positions.

The "manager of the week" has to plan the menu each day and see to it that everything is performed, from buying of the food to serving at the table.

The final phase of the training, which comes late in the school year, is that of "on-the-job" training, with area restaurants as the students' workshops.

The training prepares students for going into food industries.

When Ruhl-Cain enrolled in the school, she needed the course to go along with her desire to become a motel or hotel manager.

"This (food training) was one of the requirements for motel/hotel management," she said. "But along the way I've become more interested in catering. I complete my training in May and hope to get into catering."

During her time in school, she has become secretary of the local chapter of the Vocational Industry Club of America (VICA).

Garza is president of the local VICA.

Garza, whose mother operated a restaurant in Matthews, Mo., wants to become a professional chef or restaurant manager. He formerly was a cook in the Navy.

"The training here is great," says Dykes, who is in her first year of training and who was "Chef-of-the-Week" last week. "I love to cook," said Dykes, who prepared the plate lunch special Tuesday. "We come in each day and the restaurant manager tells us what we have to prepare."

Also on hand Tuesday were Sheila Darby of Marble Hill and Nicole King of Cape Girardeau, both serving as waitresses for the week; and Tara King of Cape Girardeau, who was a bus-person for the week.

"We cover every position in the restaurant business," said Pensel. "We have hosts, servers, bus-people and cash register people. In other areas we have people who prepare sandwiches, vegetables, salads and coffee."

A special "competency profile" is kept on each person, logging total instruction hours, on-the-job training and actual work experience, all on a scale of 1-to-3.

The Mini-Restaurant is a busy place during its two-hour session Tuesday through Friday. Customers order from a menu updated daily with the "special" of the day.

And what a special it was during one day last week oven-fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, green beans and hot rolls.

"If we run out of plate lunches we suggest soup, sandwiches, and/or salad bar," said Pensel.

The restaurant also offers hot dogs, hamburgers, ham and cheese, submarine sandwiches and others, either separately or on a plate with fries.

The menu also includes chili dogs, corn dogs, nachos and cheese sauce, pizza rolls, onion rings, a soup of the day and desserts.

Many of the items on the menu are made from Pensel recipes.

"Some are mine, some belonged to my mother," she said. "We have picked up others here and there over the year, adapting them to our needs."

"Everything on the menu is good," said customer Lorene Murray, an Oran woman who attends the Vo-Tech School. "The food is good and it's reasonably-priced. I eat here often."

"In addition to the restaurant, we take orders from the community," said Pensel. "We'll do special parties or luncheons for small groups. And we fill a lot of orders for cookies, especially at this time of year. We've already had to quit taking cookie orders for the holidays."

Working the special orders and banquets make a "real world' experience for the students," said Pensel. "It's a real learning experience."

Pensel also points to the experiences for potential chefs. "We have salad-bar chefs, grill chefs and chef-of-the-week," she said. "Our chef-of-the-week has to prepare plate-lunch food for up to 60 persons a day."

The food management training readies students for a number of food-related industries, said Pensel.

"And it's a fun time for the students. I encourage each of them to add their special touches to their work."

Pensel has announced her retirement from teaching following the 1993-94 school term. "I've been in teaching 29 years," she said.

Before starting at the Vo-Tech School, she taught on the junior high and senior high level in classrooms in Scott City, Jackson, Bloomfield, Perryville and Cape Girardeau.

Pensel says she will miss working with students when she retires.

"I jokingly say it's time to enjoy things more slowly," she said. "I'll probably be doing a lot of volunteer work in my retirement."

Perhaps some of that volunteer work may find Pensel back in the kitchen of the Mini-Restaurant from time to time.