Cooking Class - Learn Foundational Cooking Skills

50 reviews

50 reviews Save

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Expert Knife Skills

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Next date: Fri, Apr 24th at 1:00PM

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What You'll Do

Prepare a complete meal while building foundational kitchen confidence.

Build your kitchen confidence in this hands-on cooking class in North Bethesda. Learn key techniques every home cook should know, from searing steak with herbed butter to perfecting a crisp salad and balanced vinaigrette. Youâ€™ll also make creamy truffled pommes purÃ©e and finish with the best chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. Chef Paula or a resident chef will guide you step by step, focusing on essential skills you can use in any recipe. This cooking class in North Bethesda is perfect for anyone ready to sharpen their everyday cooking.

Tea, coffee and water will be provided. Guests are welcome to bring non-alcoholic beverages.

This class is suitable for ages 14+ with an adult present. Children under 17 must be accompanied by a paying adult. Class price is per person.

Details

Minimum Guests 1
Maximum Guests 16
Meal Courses 4
Event Duration 2 hours
Labels Adult, Beginner, Gourmet, New American
Additional information In this class you will be working hands-on in groups of four sharing work stations and equipment.

Meet your chef

Chef Paula or Resident Chef

50 reviews

In 2004, Chef Paula followed her passion for food at Lâ€™Academie de Cuisine, graduating at the top of her class in 2005. Beginning as a Sous Chef in the Executive Dining Room at the Washington Post, Chef Paula went on to spend a decade crafting regional recipes before advancing to Executive Chef. After a brief hiatus, her love for food drew her back to teaching, where she now shares her enthusiasm for cooking with each of her students.

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Cancellation Policy

Flexible booking: Cancel or reschedule this event's reservation for free up to 48 hours before the event.

Event location:

(Exact location will be provided after booking)

What You'll Do

Prepare a complete meal while building foundational kitchen confidence.

Details

Minimum Guests 1
Maximum Guests 16
Meal Courses 4
Event Duration 2 hours
Labels Adult, Beginner, Gourmet, New American
Additional information In this class you will be working hands-on in groups of four sharing work stations and equipment.

Reviews

Verified guest reviews for other experiences with Chef Paula or Resident Chef

Ana

27 Mar 2026

Veggie meal with chef Patrick (not Paula). a great experience. only feedback is trying to use less plastic (small containers for ingredients and spoons for tasting).

Stacy

22 Mar 2026

This was a knife skills class so we did not cook anything. We learned to cut using a big knife.

Brian

21 Mar 2026

Chef Jess was great. She was knowledgeable, fun, and a great teacher.

Mauree

05 Jan 2026

My husband and I both enjoyed our cooking class experience with Chef Patrick and team. The location where it was held was great and the kitchen/room was set up perfectly for hands-on participation by everyone (about 16 participants). We were pleasantly surprised how much easier it was (than we thought it would be) to prepare Beef Wellington. Sides were simple, but paired nicely with Beef Wellington - the complete meal was delicious.

Monica

29 Nov 2025

I took the pie baking class with Chef Carter and she was wonderful. She said she isn't a baker, but you certainly wouldn't know it. She was patient and kind and skilled.

Lisa Banks

12 Oct 2025

Patrick was great. Kind, patient and knowledgeable about Thai cuisine. Class moved at a good pace and then set up was very bright, open and comfortable

Helene

13 Jul 2025

The instructor was warm, Knowledgeable and a great teacher. The class was wonderful and we learned a lot and had a lot of fun!! I would highly recommend the class to anyone!

Alexandra

05 Jul 2025

Our expert knife skills with Chef Johnathan was wonderful! It was very informative and we got a lot of chances to practice. Making a pineapple salsa was a nice final challenge. The location inside the restaurant was very nice and it was easy to see the chef as he demonstrated. We were allowed to take home the practice chopped veggies to make stock at home if we wanted.

Carolyn

26 May 2025

Fun small meal with great technique teaching

Kristen

23 Mar 2025

Really enjoyed the class and learned lots of new skills to practice.

Eran

06 Oct 2024

The chef was friendly, polite and knowledgeable. He took us through all the steps carefully, and was very helpful. I enjoyed the session.

Zelalem

13 Sep 2024

they made it a great experience

Monique

17 Jul 2024

Loved the experience! Chef was so personable and knowledgeable. Very warming atmosphere and recipes cooked and prepared were absolutely delicious. My only con would be the fact that you potentially have to share the space and foods being prepared with another couple/people. We were lucky enough to not have to do that but the other couples did just based on the way the stations were set up. But in all I would definitely return and enjoyed getting to shop afterwards.

Maria DeBernardi Mocchetti

04 May 2024

Love it!

Natalia

02 May 2024

Awesome experience! The chef was wonderful, and the atmosphere was so funny and cozy! Strongly recommend!

Esther

21 Apr 2024

Lovely class!! Great food and learned a lot

Erin

23 Feb 2024

Fun class!

Adriana Vasil

29 Jan 2024

She was knowledgeable and patient

Paloma Arroyo LeFebre

26 Jan 2024

Chef Karla is awesome! She's so knowledgeable while also being a great teacher.

Amy

26 Jan 2024

Learned a lot and it was fun and yummy. Instructor explained things clearly and straightforwardly and was just a very chill person.

Terry

22 Jan 2024

The chef and the class was great. So often the experience depends on the people you are paired with. We were lucky this time.

Joyce

21 Jan 2024

Loved the class! Abrar was so engaging and had a lot of suggestions for even the most experienced coach cooks. She was extremely organized and watched over each couple as we made a French meal of scallops with sides and a Pear dessert. A really fun night out. Sur La Tableâ€™s test kitchen in Bethesda was large and accommodated the 12 participants. We ended the night with a wonderful meal and packed the leftovers to take home. I will definitely be taking another class.

Reviews Chef Paula or Resident Chef received outside of Cozymeal

Sergiu

13 Dec 2023

Great chef cook instructor. Fun ambience and learned a few things. Enjoyed it a lot!

Susan

13 Dec 2023

Loved our cooking class. Learned A LOT ! Very hands on.

Oscar

13 Dec 2023

Great time! It was a simple enough meal to learn that helped us both expand our palette and culinary repetoire. Recommend for all. I would ask in the future exactly what you are going to learn.

Kevin

13 Dec 2023

Ethan's passion for cooking shows & made the class educational & fun! We look forward to seeing him again as well as the helpers. Thank you for sharing your passion to cook!

Sandra

13 Dec 2023

My husband and I had such great time. We have been wanting to take a cooking class together and highly recommend it.

Amelia

13 Dec 2023

Really fun and busy class making pad Thai, deep fried lemongrass corn fritters, shrimp curry, and enjoying coconut rice afterwards, in a group of 12. It was nice to review knife skills as well. Great date or special occasion activity

Colleen

13 Dec 2023

My husband and I really enjoyed this class. We both learned some things, and had a great meal at the end. We would definitely recommend this date night class.

Neal

13 Dec 2023

Love the class, and now is chef/instructor was great

Randy

13 Dec 2023

Chef was attentive and helpful. Would have liked to taste it (!), but a health emergency ended the class early. Still waiting for the recipes.

Gwen

13 Dec 2023

Great class. Learned a lot and the bread was delicious.

Matt

13 Dec 2023

As usual, this was a great experience. I would recommend their cooking classes to learn, eat great food, and have a great experience.

Ernie

13 Dec 2023

Overall very informative. Adult only class would be a nice option.. Chef had amazing experience, very informative and knowledgeable. Should have a 5 min late policy. Late guests distracting. Would have liked a little quicker pace. Overall Very great seat up. Definitely an experience.

Emilie

13 Dec 2023

Overall, the class was really fun! In a way I wish it was a tiny bit more challenging. It felt like we did a few knife cuts, then took a break and then cooked a bit before eating. All in all, I wish it had been a bit more difficult or ""fast"" pace wise. The food we made was really good, except for the pad thai which was disappointing. Also would be super nice to make a dessert!

Paula

13 Dec 2023

The class was easy to follow, and I feel the recipes will be easy to replicate at home. This class should be 3 hrs long, not 2. The dough didn't have enough time to rise and didn't have enough time to bake. My focaccia bread wound up burning because the instructor was moving on with the class and the bread didn't get out of the oven fast enough.

Judith

13 Dec 2023

Great class even better instructor. Also fun group of women

Kelli

13 Dec 2023

We had a great time! John was great leading the class and the food was delicious! Will definitely take another class!

Valerie

13 Dec 2023

The chef was very personable and knowledgeable. The class was fun and the meal turned out delicious. One wish was maybe a glass of wine with the meal.

Michelle

13 Dec 2023

We had a great time! Large group, very organized and fun! Food was delish! Never received the recipes from the class to make at home

Heidi

13 Dec 2023

Very helpful and informative, would definitely take other classes. Really enjoy being able to ask questions along the way.

Sandra

07 Dec 2023

It was such a great class. I learned so much and can't wait to replicate the dishes at home.

Penelope

20 Mar 2026

If I could give this zero stars, I would. When we arrived, I was under the impression that we would all separately have our own ingredients and cook our own dishes. Instead, it was a group effort of four where we all had to â€œfigure it out ourselvesâ€ in regards to deciding who was going to do what. One piece of chicken per couple, not being able to properly coordinate who was taking care of what, barely any work space because we were all cramped on the bench, and a â€œdo what you want. This is your guys food.â€ We were not told that we would have to be sharing ingredients and working together. I am very disappointed with the outcome as I paid almost $200 to barely get work in and not have the hands on experience I was expecting.

Zach

13 Oct 2025

Chef was funny and knowledgeable, wasn't exactly prepared for the class/recipe. Also admitted that he disliked baking + hadn't baked in a while throughout the class.

Carol

08 Feb 2025

Egg yolk ravioli too challenging and wasteful of many eggs Bolognese sauce was good, papperdelle ok, neither really special though. Would be better as well if each couple had their own station of ingredients rather than sharing these and tools back and forth with another couple

Geneive

26 Jan 2025

The entire experience was false advertising. First of all, the person leading the class was not Chef Paul or a chef at all. When selecting a class, I based my decision largely on the chef. Second, the lesson was totally rushed. Some parts of the meal were already prepared beforehand. We were so rushed we could not even learn along the way -- or hear the instructor -- how we were preparing the meal. We were told to take the instructions home and read them later. As a result, the "class" was 1.5 hours, not two hours as advertised, with an 8-minute break so the potatoes could cook. I could have stayed at home and read from a cookbook and had the same experience. For $100 per person, it came up short and I would like a refund.

Nicholas

30 Sep 2024

It was an OK experience. I did learn a couple things, mostly what not to do. The most important lesson was that humidity and/or temperature significantly affects pate choux preventing it from thickening, resulting in runny, unpuffed pastry. So, our eclairs were a catastrophe. Not sure if we will be back.

Kerry

29 Sep 2024

Paid for a booking for 5 but called on Fri as one had Covid. Called again this morning as second person was ill. When I checked in chef was quite rude as the person I spoke to hadnâ€™t told them. Also no one spoke to me about refund since first party size reduction was over 48 hours. When you pay almost $100 person you expect certain things. Safety is utmost. Took our mandolin protector to give to another group and told us offhandedly to use a towel. Spent 90% of the time dealing with that same group and got irritated when other groups asked for help. We had no salt and pepper, butter, some other ingredients were missing and again chef got annoyed with us. Unacceptable. Certain chefs may be great in the kitchen but not instructors. This was one of those occasions. Chef did not know recipe and so did not instruct well at all. Class ran over and recipes were not available. This class was disorganized and honestly expected much higher quality for . Will never attend or recommend this to anyone.