Brookdale’s Culinary Arts program vows to teach students the skills required to succeed in the culinary world. Situated in Asbury Park, a culinary hotspot in New Jersey, the Culinary Education Center is brimming with aspiring chefs who all share one thing: a wholehearted love for the art of cooking.

“My love for culinary arts came from my grandmother,” said Angelo Lombardi, an 18-year-old student at the institute. Lombardi shared that his favorite dish was his grandmother’s steak pizzaiola. However, the recipe was lost to the family when she passed.

“She never wrote it down and nobody really knew how to make it off the top of their head.”

Determined not to lose the recipe he remembered so fondly, Lombardi embarked on a culinary investigation. “Through interviewing my grandma and a bunch of other people from my family, I formed a recipe, I made it, and it tasted exactly like it.”

Lombardi, of course, is not the only student to have a passion for food ignited by the cooking of a loved one.

“My mother—I think she’s a very great cook. She would always make [enchiladas] for me and I think it’s one of my favorite foods,” said 20-year-old Roberto Lopez.

Lopez found his way to Brookdale’s Culinary Education Center after a brief stint as an engineering major.

“I was always in the restaurant industry—since I was 15. I worked at a pizzeria… So I [thought], ‘I was already in the industry, so lets see where this takes me.’”

The restaurant industry, as anyone who has seen “The Bear” will report, can be a cold and unforgiving machine at times. Students of the culinary arts require a certain amount of vigor if they hope to achieve success.

“First, I started at the Freehold Borough High School, where they have a 4-year culinary program,” recalled 18-year-old Erin Salvani. “Here at Brookdale, it got more intense—which is good because you gotta learn stuff for the real world.”

“In math and purchasing you learn food costs and reliable vendors, so there is a business aspect of it—but you can also take different classes for restaurant management if you want to go into that sort of thing,” Salvani said.

Given the specialized and rigorous coursework these students subject themselves to and the burning passion they carry with them into the center’s test kitchens, its no surprise that their career aspirations are akin to achieving greatness.

“I would like to work in a high-end, one to two Michelin Star restaurant somewhere in New York. New York is definitely the big goal at this point,” Salvani said.

The program vows to teach students the skills to succeed in the culinary world, but it also offers them community.

“I would say it’s definitely better than the [Culinary Institute of America]. It’s a lot more involved. Everyone feels like family,” said Sophia Riedinger, an 18-year-old student. “I really like this program a lot. It’s fun; it’s really fun.”

Any student interested in the program, or delicious free food, can attend the Culinary Education Center’s open house 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 7, at 101 Drury Lane, Asbury Park.