ICE Named Best Culinary School in America

NEW YORK (November 1, 2016) – The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) is honored to be awarded the best culinary school in America by The Daily Meal, a leading food and lifestyle website and EDinformatics and The Best Schools, leading resources for campus and online education in 2016. Additionally, ICE was listed as one of the top culinary schools in the nation by FSR Magazine earlier in the year. This comes in the wake of a milestone year of growth and achievement in 2015, when the school received the Culinary School of Excellence Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), a food and beverage industry trade organization. The Daily Meal also named ICE’s School of Recreational Cooking as the Best Cooking Class in America.

“ICE is honored to receive these accolades from such organizations,” said Rick Smilow, ICE’s longtime president and CEO. “We have worked hard to build ICE into a culinary school that inspires, educates and helps launch new careers. From our brand new, premier facility in downtown Manhattan, to hiring some of the most acclaimed chefs in the industry – we think the learning environment we have built stands out. It’s a privilege to see that these organizations agree.”

ICE’s new home is the largest culinary education facility built in a major American city in more than 10 years. The 75,000-square-foot space was designed with both creativity and community in mind. The school’s layout is like a “culinary village,” with 12 teaching kitchens, six classrooms and various features that will enrich students’ daily educational experiences and support innovative, diverse course offerings. Special features include an indoor hydroponic farm, the nation’s first educational-focused bean-to-bar Chocolate Lab, a Culinary Technology Lab and iPad-enabled teaching kitchens.

In addition to building this facility with such unique features, ICE has recently attracted some of New York City’s most talented and recognized chefs to its faculty. This includes James Beard Award-winning chefs like Michael Laiskonis (formerly of Le Bernardin), who serves as ICE’s creative director and is the first ever to hold such a title at a culinary school, and David Waltuck, ICE’s director of culinary affairs (formerly of Chanterelle). Both chefs are making their mark on ICE’s classrooms and curriculum daily.

In the category of student externships, in just the last three years, ICE placed 1,572 students at more than 300 establishments around the country. ICE is also proud of the success of its alumni who frequently win awards across the culinary and hospitality industries, including recent winners: Zoe Nathan, whose Los Angeles restaurant Cassia was listed among Bon Appétit Magazine’s 50 Best Restaurants 2016, Vivian Howard, who won a 2016 James Beard Award for Outstanding Personality/Host for her PBS show “A Chef’s Life,” and Missy Robbins, who won Best New Chef: East at the 2016 Taste Talks Awards.

“ICE is constantly striving to provide our students with the best opportunities possible to ensure their success in the industry,” said Richard Simpson, ICE’s vice president of education. “Our student outcome metrics and alumni success are a testament to the education they receive while in our kitchen classrooms, as well as the resources we provide to assist in development and achievement throughout their careers.”

About the Institute of Culinary Education
The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) is one of the largest and most diverse culinary schools in the world. Established in 1975, ICE offers award-winning six to 13-month career training programs in Culinary Arts, Pastry & Baking Arts, Restaurant & Culinary Management and Hospitality Management – with more than 13,000 successful alumni, many of whom are leaders in the industry. ICE also offers continuing education for culinary professionals, hosts more than 500 special events each year and is home to one of the world’s largest recreational cooking, baking and wine programs with more than 26,000 students annually. In 2015, marking the school’s 40th anniversary, ICE moved to a new, modern 75,000-square-foot facility at Brookfield Place in downtown Manhattan, designed for inspiration, creativity and community. Visit us at ice.edu or join us on Twitter and Facebook @iceculinary to find your culinary voice™  

* Graduation rate is based on 1,171 students graduating out of the 1,331 students available for graduation included in the annual reports submitted by ICE to ACCSC in 2015-2016.