James Beard award-winning chefs – including Chef Vitaly Paley – talk about Oregon Culinary Institute students.
Kick-start your career at Oregon Culinary Institute!
From the moment a student begins class at Oregon Culinary Institute, the emphasis is on developing skills that promote employability and contribute to success in the exciting food and hospitality industry. In addition to the quality education provided, the in-house restaurant experience, and the off-property externship, students are given professional guidance and job placement assistance on a one-to-one basis.
We maintain ongoing relationships with employers who hire OCI students and graduates on a regular basis, and also with those who have expressed an interest or might be potential employers – to expand the opportunities for jobs during school and graduate placement beyond.
Learn from Award-Winning Chefs and Partners
Award-winning chefs rave about students from Oregon Culinary Institute!
There’s no stronger testimonial to the education at Oregon Culinary Institute, than what chefs in the industry say about the students:
“They’re the only school I take interns from.” – Chef Gabriel Rucker, Le Pigeon and Little Bird, 2011 Winner, James Beard Foundation Award, Rising Star Chef of the Year
“The curriculum in school is very fluid and it gives the student enough information that they’re able to bring to me and then we build from there. It’s really nice to be able to not only know the teachers but also kind of train the second generation of the students that go through school. OCI is on the right path, and is putting their students on the right path, and we’re thankful to be the recipients of that.” – Chef Vitaly Paley, Paley’s Place, 2005 Winner, James Beard Foundation Award, Best Chef Pacific Northwest
“I really like the level of – the quality of – the students coming out. The graduates are great. Recently we had one amazing intern and it was a really wonderful experience to work together. I would love to have another intern sometime soon.” – Chef Jenn Louis, Lincoln, 2011 Semi-Finalist, James Beard Foundation Award, Best Chef Pacific Northwest, and 2011 CNN/Food and Wine’s Award: The People’s Best New Chef
“I’ve worked with a lot of Oregon Culinary Institute students at various off-site events where I’ve been a guest chef – they’ve always been super helpful, super thoughtful about food, really care about food, care about how things taste. I’ve had great experiences with them. I just hope that OCI keeps turning out great students…and I get to hire them to work here at Nostrana.” – Chef Cathy Whims,
Chef Gabriel Rucker, 2011 Winner, James Beard Foundation Award, Rising Start Chef of the Year
“About halfway through OCI I started on pantry at Ten 01 Restaurant in the Pearl District. It was the best step I could have taken, besides coming to OCI. I definitely credit OCI with getting my confidence level up and getting my knife skills going and knowing all the basics.” – Ingrid Chen, OCI Graduate Culinary Arts, Class of 2009
Some of Our Partners in the Restaurant Community
| Accanto Autentica Bar Avignon Beaker & Flask Beast Bent Brick The Black Rabbit at Edgefield Black Sheep Bakery Bluehour Brasserie Montmartre Bridgeport Brewery Carafe Castagna Clarke’s Clarklewis Clyde Common The Country Cat Cupcake Jones Davis Street Tavern DeCarli Equinox Five Spice Fratelli Genoa Grüner | Hall Street Grill Heathman Restaurant and Bar The Hilton Hotel Fifty Irving Street Kitchen Jake’s Grill Joel Palmer House Laurelhurst Market Le Petite Provence Le Pigeon Lincoln Little Bird Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty Metrovino Mextiza Milo’s City Café Nel Centro New Season’s Market Place Ned Ludd Noble Rot Nostrana Nuvrei Olympic Provisions Oven & Shaker | OX Painted Lady Paley’s Place Park Kitchen Pastrygirl Pigeon Pok Pok Portland City Grill Red Hills Provincial Dining Ringside Steakhouse Ringside Fish House The Nines Hotel Salvador Molly’s Saucebox Screen Door Saint Honore Bakeries Saint Cupcake Sunshine Tavern Tasty n Sons Toast Toro Bravo Urban Farmer Wafu Wildwood |
“OCI helped me get a job at one of the most prestigious restaurants in Portland (and) gave me the base knowledge that I needed to succeed in this industry.” – Josh Polletti, OCI Graduate Culinary Arts,
Class of 2007
“If you come to this school, put yourself in the chefs’ hands and trust them. They are going to help you, they are going to work with you, they are going to walk along side you. You can do it.” – Angelina Andrew, OCI Graduate Culinary Arts,
Class of 2009
