Cooking Up Creativity and Confidence

The Gourmandise School in Santa Monica Offers a Wide Range of Courses, for Beginners to Professionals

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Whether you’re looking to sharpen your knife skills or learn how to perfect French chocolate cakes, The Gourmandise School in Santa Monica has something on the menu for everyone—including this summer, when camp is in session for young chefs ages 8 to 16.

The women-owned and -operated school is helmed by Chef Clémence Gossett, Sabrina Ironside and Claire Hutchens, who grew up in Pacific Palisades.

“The Gourmandise School offers hands-on cooking classes in Los Angeles for beginners to professionals,” read its website. “We focus on teaching classic techniques and use locally sourced ingredients. The school offers baking and cooking classes, professional series, and fascinating food workshops.”

Originally based in Venice, the school was created from Gossett’s love for sweets: Gourmandise Desserts offered “home-made delectable sweet treats” at 20th Century Fox, where she worked as an assistant in the feature film group.

“The Gourmandise School grew out of a passion for teaching her favorite recipes,” the website continued. “Clémence eventually began teaching classes at Culver City’s Surfas Supply Store. Six years and many satellite kitchen classrooms later, Clémence met Hadley Hughes in one of her classes. In 2011, the two opened The Gourmandise School in the newly remodeled Santa Monica Place shopping center.”

Hutchens told the Palisadian-Post she was born in Santa Monica before her parents moved to The Highlands. She was then enrolled in a mommy and me program at St. Matthew’s.

“We did pretty much everything in the Palisades,” Hutchens said. “It was where I grew up, where all my first friends were made, where I went to school, where I lived, where I spent the majority of my time.”

Hutchens added that her family was involved with various sports at Palisades Recreation Center, that her brother played in Pacific Palisades Baseball Association, where Hutchens worked the snack stands. She also participated in Sunshine Volleyball “for a long time.”

Her family moved out of the area when she was 12, but she finished her time at St. Matthew’s Parish School when she was 14—spending two years commuting back and forth to their home near Mulholland Drive and Beverly Glen Boulevard. Her ties to the school exist today—at the time of her interview with the Post, Hutchens was planning to go to the school’s young alumni mixer the next week.

Hutchens then attended Harvard-Westlake School, followed by University of California, Santa Cruz, but she left and came home and went to Santa Monica College.

“While I was there, I went to take a class at The Gourmandise School in 2011, which is right when it opened,” Hutchens explained. “I took a class there and I was like, ‘You know, I could do this.’ I always loved baking … it just kind of sparked my interest.”

A few months after the class, which was pizza-making with her mom, Hutchens secured a job as a part-time receptionist and kitchen assistant while attending SMC. She transferred to University of California, Los Angeles, and finished up school while one of the co-founders—Hughes—was leaving.

Hutchens was asked to take on more management duties. Ironside came in 2015 and bought Hughes’ share.

“She saw me and she was like, ‘OK, how can we utilize you in different ways?’” Hutchens explained. “So she shifted my job from doing various things to focusing on private events and assistant general management of the school.”

Hutchens said she continued to grow from there—becoming a vested partner in the school in 2018.

“Clémence and Sabrina and amazing partners,” Hutchens said. “Clémence … is our head pastry chef, as well as the brainiac behind the vision of the school. Sabrina comes from a marketing background and licensing background. She was in entertainment for years and years, and she brings a whole load of business savviness.”

In addition to its year-round offerings, The Gourmandise School is now enrolling for its Teen Cooking and Baking Summer Camps, designed to “immerse your child in culinary discovery while teaching essential cooking techniques and serving various dishes” for participants ages 12 to 16. Teen cooking and baking series—which are five days of three-hour sessions—begin June 10 and continue through August 23.

“We have global cooking, we have baking fundamentals, we have cooking fundamentals, we really teach them proper knife skills, we teach them how to be confident in the kitchen, how to cook with base ingredients,” Hutchens said. “Talk about nutrition, talk about manners and setting the table, talking about cleaning up after yourself.”

For slightly younger campers—ages 8 to 12—the school has Cooking Camps for Kids, where “young chefs will learn essential techniques while whipping up savory delights from around the world.” Sessions are planned for June 17 to 21; July 15 to 19; and August 5 to 9.

“It really gives them independence in the kitchen,” Hutchens said of the camps.

For adults looking to take a class at the school, there are many to choose from, including “Jams, Preserves & Pickles” and “Spanish Tapas,” but Hutchens said a couple of popular options are the Knife Skills courses and a four-week Cooking 101 series that includes knife skills, poultry, meat and fish. They also offer date night courses, like “Puerto Rican Cuisine” and “Italian Trattoria,” which participants can do with a partner or friend.

Recreational courses are typically three hours long, but specialty or technique classes can be longer. There are also series courses, which can range from two days to 10 weeks.

On the evening of the day of the interview, Hutchens was enrolled in the school’s Chinese Dumplings date night course.

“I work there all the time, have worked there for 13 years now, and I still want to go take a class because it’s fun,” she said.

For a complete list of course offerings, visit thegourmandiseschool.com.