Paulding & Company

COOK! Culinary Programs

1410 D 62nd St.

Emeryville, CA 94608

510-594-1104

cook@pauldingandco.com

Meet The Staff

Tracy Paulding- Program Director and Teacher

For Tracy, cooking combines her favorite things: stories, feeding people, creativity, and eating! Tracy has worked in various culinary fields for over 20 years, doing everything from menu planning for a new restaurant, to kitchen management for large festivals, to catering. She is a long-time student of Chanoyu, the Japanese Way of Tea, and spent one year studying in Kyoto, Japan, at the Urasenke Foundation. In addition to running COOK!, Tracy leads team-building groups, caters, teaches, and washes copious amounts of dishes. As of August 3rd, 2011, her new favorite love in life is her son, Miles.

Terry Paulding- Program Advisor, Owner, and Teacher

Terry Paulding, Paulding & Company founder, began working in the restaurant industry as a teen. Starting out as assistant to chef Alice Brock of Alice’s Restaurant in Stockbridge, Massachusetts — the restaurant featured in the Arthur Penn movie of that name — she remained in the business for many years. Terry retired from active kitchen duty and turned to teaching as she raised her family, and in 1993, returned to school at the California Culinary Academy. Combining teaching and catering allows Terry to share her love of good food and her creativity in the kitchen with her students, her corporate team building clients, and her many catering clients.

Samantha Smith- Head Chef and Teacher

Samantha’s culinary style is an amalgamation of her interest in culture, creativity, survival and love. For her, food is a way to connect; cooking is  energizing and inspiring. Being a chef is a path of curiosity and experimentation and Samantha’s cooking and teaching style emanates these core values.

Rhea Dellimore- Chef and Teacher

Rhea is currently a part time chef/management instructor in the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies Program at the City College of San Francisco. Rhea has worked in both pastry and savory kitchens such as Oliveto Restaurant (Oakland), Adagia (Berkeley), Riva Cucina (Berkeley), and Aqua (Dana Point) as well as her own catering and personal chef business.  Rhea has an Associate’s Degree in Culinary Arts from the City College of San Francisco and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Shy Leong- Chef and Teacher

Shy was born in Seremban, Malaysia.  He attended Bowling Green State University and earned a degree in Hospitality Management.  He began his career in food industry a little under twenty years ago as a breakfast cook at the University Union dining hall as part of his course requirement.  From there he quickly developed interest with food, gradually working his way up through school, to junior sous chef and sous chef.  His first job out of college was managing the jazzy Cafe Shadeau, which triggered his decision to pursue cooking as a career.  He spent a year working at Christopher's in Toledo then The Restaurant, a division of Creative Gourmet Private Dining and Jet Catering in Sylvania.  In 1998, Shy was hired by Trader Vic’s Restaurant Group as the executive chef at their flagship location in Emeryville. 

Inspired to search for a more comprehensive exposure to local ingredients and a focused work flow, Shy departed from Trader Vic's in 2006 to learn local farming and ranching while working as a private chef cooking for busy families.  Simultaneously intrigued by the dynamics of ever changing global food trends and the complexity of Californian palates, he began his journey traveling and studying alternative medicine as well as food heritage and sustainability. He is presently a food writer of The Main Foyer – Serambi Perdana and the consulting chef for The Royal Sungei Ujong Club in Malaysia. He currently resides in Oakland California.

Charles Vollmar- Chef and Teacher

Charles is a popular chef, cooking instructor, culinary health educator and wellness consultant, writer, lifestyle coach and owner of Epicurean Exchange.  An honors graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, he has been a practicing Chef Instructor and Culinary Educator for over 16 years.  he has taught at the French Culinary Institute in the South Bay, where he has taught teen camps for the past three years; teaches Privately in his Orinda home school and at leading cooking schools including Ramekins – Sonoma, and Draeger’s Markets.  He is a featured writer for the Lamorinda Weekly, and the Orinda News with his column, Cooking Well; is garden coordinator for Wagner Ranch elementary school; a board member of the Orinda Historical Society, and a commissioner for the Orinda Parks and Recreation Department. (Adult classes will be available with this chef)

Cheryl Beere- Visiting Chef and Teacher

Coming to us all the way from New Zealand, Cheryl has been cooking professionally for 24 years. Her pursuits for flavor and inspiration have taken her all over the world, from vegan to international cuisines, and from small kitchens to grand stadiums. Cheryl has cooked in restaurants, taught, and has been personal chef to famous musicians (The Beastie Boys, Tori Amos, Beck, Dave Grohl, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, to name a few). (Adult classes will be available with this chef)

Amie Bailey- Chef and Teacher

Amie has been an enthusiastic cook her entire life, and a professional chef for the last 3 years. She has worked in some of the most respected bakeries in the Bay Area, and partners with a select group of chefs for private catering and events. With a focus on technique and an open, creative environment, she strives to engage students of all levels and ages as they venture into new kitchen territory and culinary experiences. (Adult classes will be available with this chef)

Thom Campbell - Chef and Teacher

Thom graduated from Tante Marie’s Professional Pastry course in 2011, and quickly left a 20-year career in marketing/advertising to pursue baking and pastry.  He spent time at Prospect restaurant in San Francisco, assisted Tante Marie’s Summer baking camp for children, and picked up odd jobs throughout his first year of baking. 

 

Thom also keeps himself quite busy baking through the year, honing his skills while posting a blog of his creations and adventures (visit the blog:  http://thommysblog.myshugarlips.com/ ).  Most recently he has challenged himself to make every dessert/breakfast/drink recipe in the March issue of Food Network Magazine. 

 

Thom’s dream is to open his own dessert shop one day, and hopes the experience and knowledge he obtains along the way helps with this goal.

When he’s not in the kitchen, Thom enjoys both listening to and playing music, running marathons and reading recipes (like they are novels!!!)

Mark Dessert - Chef and Teacher

Mark is currently the Sous Chef at Kitchen on Fire, a Bay Area Hands-on Cooking School, where he helps teach people of all ages and walks of life the art of cooking. He is passionate about food and enjoys sharing his knowledge of creating healthful and nutritious meals with others.  Mark also runs his own business, Raise the Root, a special event culinary endeavor focused on bringing people together to eat and learn about the benefits of sourcing and eating locally grown, seasonal fare.  In his spare time Mark enjoys learning about all things culinary, exploring the outdoors on his bike and volunteering at the Edible Schoolyard to teach kids about food both in the kitchen and out in the garden.

Jason Lujick -

Jason Lujick is a home cook and culinary misfit.  His cooking experiences range from meticulous experimentation to event catering to competition cooking. An avid cookbook reader and gadget collector, Jason never tires of finding new ways to cook new things to share with his friends. A sous vide water oven, three pressure cookers, and an industrial ice cream maker are but a few bits in his stash.  He enjoys the mishaps and mistakes as much as the successes, as they pave the road to culinary discovery.

Rita Daniels - Guest Mentor

Rita Daniels was raised off the grid in the Wild Wild West by a pack of hippies and Pueblo Indians. She thinks these unique circumstances might have something to do with her obsession with the oral tradition and her unyielding need to capture personal stories about the human experience.  Rita graduated from Emerson College for the Media Arts and then travelled the world. She is presently a producer for Snap Judgment, a nationally syndicated radio show. Listen to one of her stories here!