WVU Tech advancing culinary program with nationally recognized chef
Jan. 24—A West Virginia chef who has gained national recognition for his culinary skills and business ventures is looking to help train and nurture aspiring chefs in West Virginia.
The partnership between Charleston Chef Paul Smith and West Virginia University Institute of Technology was announced Wednesday in Beckley.
Smith said he will lend his expertise to the WVU Tech students in the two-year culinary program, which is offered through Potomac State College and hosted on WVU Tech's campus in Beckley.
"I'll be kind of an adjunct professor and coming in and speaking, but most importantly, we're going to be using my network of chefs to get these students out into these kitchens to number one test out and see what they want," Smith said.
Smith has multiple restaurants in Charleston: Barkadas, The Pitch Sports Bar & Grill, and 1010 Bridge Restaurant & Catering, which quickly gained a reputation as one of the state's premier dining destinations.
{span}According to a biography at a self-named homepage, Smith graduated from Charleston Catholic High School and then earned his B.A. from West Virginia State University. He formally trained at New York's prestigious Culinary Institute of America, graduating with honors. He also studied at CIA's Greystone campus in Napa Valley, Calif., where he focused on pastries and wine and graduated as valedictorian.
Snith's employment record shows various stops around the country, from The Ritz Carlton Resort in Naples, Fla., to the world-renowned Biltmore Estates in Asheville, N.C., to The Windsor Club in Vero Beach, Fla.
Later, he returned to West Virginia, where he served as the executive chef at the University of Charleston, and corporate chef for Buzz Food Service. While speaking to an auditorium packed with current and aspiring WVU Tech students as well as community leaders and those involved in the food service industry, Smith also announced that he had just been named a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef of The Southeast Award, for the second year in a row.
Describing the award as the "Academy Awards for chefs," Smith said simply being nominated has the ability to enhance culinary programs like the one at WVU Tech and open up the doors for students on a national level.
Amid renewed and invigorated pushes throughout the state to promote West Virginia as a tourist destination, Smith said food plays a significant role in attracting people to the state.
"West Virginia was America's best kept secret, and now it's out," he said. "If I can help be the conduit between education, learning your craft in the kitchen, at West Virginia Tech, and introduce you as culinary students to the great restauranteurs, chefs, and different avenues of our tourism business, then that is — that's my job."
WVU Tech culinary student Chase Savilla, of Putnam County, said he is looking forward to learning from Smith and benefiting from his experience and resources.
"Knowing that (Smith) is listening to the people of the state and willing to help people wanting to learn the craft better, I think that's just amazing," Savilla said. Savilla said his goal after graduating is to open his own restaurant in West Virginia.
High school students from the Fayette Institute of Technology's ProStart program, which trains students in food preparation and management, were also present for Wednesday's announcement.
WVU Tech President T. Ramon Stuart said these Fayette County students are precisely who this program was designed to benefit because it allows them to learn a craft that can be used in their home state.
"These are the future culinarians," Stuart said. "These are the individuals that we're doing this for because working with a world-renowned chef like Chef Paul (Smith) and working with a dedicated chef like Chef Devin (Noor, program director for WVU Tech culinary program), we are going to provide an opportunity for these young people to not only transform their lives but the lives of those around us."
