Chef Luana

I recently booked "The Rich Tradition of Risotto" with Chef Luana. The experience was a complete disappointment. The menu and the experience did not match at all. The appetizer was store bought arugula, burrata, and Parmesan. I did not get to choose the risotto. She picked mushroom and there was no truffle. The dessert was made with store bought jam One of which had mold, which she insisted was fine. I was rushed and belittled for the entire 1.5 hours when the class was advertised for 2.5 hours. My class was scheduled for 6:30. I received a text message from chef at 6:08 including all the information to get to her apartment. By the time I was able to read how complicated it was to get there, it was already 6:20 since I was already on the way driving. While I can accept fault with not arriving sooner to find parking, I cannot accept the fact that all the information I needed was provided 22 minutes before the scheduled time. If I had known, I would have headed over earlier. I arrived to her apartment by 6:50. Although I was the only booking for the evening, she already started cooking the mushrooms for the risotto I didn’t get to choose the flavor of. Appetizer was “Fresh Burrata With arugula and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.” Burrata was out of a store bought container and arugula was from a store bought pre-washed bag. The only good thing was the Parmigiano she said was from Italy. It was a dish I could prepare on my own at home. Once we finished making the salad, we left it on the table for the remainder time we were cooking. Entree was supposed to be “Homemade Italian Risotto” with the choice of “Mushrooms and black truffles” or “Shrimp and zucchini.” I had no choice. By the time I walked through the door, she was already cooking mushrooms. It was regular button mushrooms and dried porcini from Italy. On top of not being able to choose the type of risotto, there was no truffle. Dessert was “Classic Crostatine Mini Italian pies made with homemade preserves.” Nothing was homemade about the preserves besides the thick layer of mold on top. She insisted that the jam was fine despite the clear layer of mold on top. She simply scooped it off and asked me if I still wanted that one or a different one. I politely asked for a different one and she brought out a new jar from her pantry. Aside from the utter disappointment of a menu, the whole “cooking” experience was underwhelming. If I wanted to be belittled as I was taught a recipe, I would go home to my mother. Nothing was prepared beforehand. She hastily opened bags and new packages throughout the night. She was annoyed with every little thing and kept mentioning how she needed to clean. I understand the language barrier, but no instructions were given. There was no demonstration to follow. While rolling the crust for the crostatine, I was lectured because I rolled it too thin. She did not mention a thickness or what I’m rolling it for specifically. While cooking the risotto, she kept repeating how at a certain time we need to do what for the risotto as if we should know already. She did not explain what to look for when cooking, only belittling us for not being mind readers. She also kept taking the spatula out of my hand to do it herself. The repeating theme of the night was grabbing things out of my hand to do it herself. There was no room for error. When there was about 15 minutes left of the 30 minutes risotto recipe, she shooed us away to eat the appetizer that has been sitting on the table. She finished off the risotto and served it to us. The pie she baked it and served it to us. If I wanted to be served my dinner, I would go to a restaurant with better service and experience. We were shooed off by 8:30 as if we didn’t pay $200+ for an intimate 2.5 hour cooking class. For the left over food, she gave us a parchment paper to use to layer in between. It was the same parchment paper we used to roll out the raw dough made with raw egg. I received no compensation for the experience. When CozyMeal asked chef about what I stated, she denied everything and said the preserves were homemade. Apparently she just made the exact same flavor as the store bought jars. Nothing was stated about the lack of truffles and the price point being far from what was advertised. She pushed me to write a review, here’s my review.

I booked this class for my boyfriend's birthday last weekend & we had the best time with Chef Luana! We still can't stop talking about the pasta we made, it was the best either of us have ever had. Definitely recommend bringing a bottle of wine if you'd like to enjoy it with your meal.

This was amazing! So much fun and so personable. We loved Cheg Luana and learned a lot and felt like we dined in a 3 Michelin star restaurant. Amazing!