Aspiring young chefs can learn to cook at 3 Downtown Disney restaurants

UPDATE: The class on June 23 has sold out. Levy Restaurants has added a second class on June 24 at the same time and price.

It’s probably no surprise that many kids love to help their parents in the kitchen, but it’s often with baking. Stirring and then sampling sweets is fun for all ages, right?

Levy Restaurants, however, is offering kids ages 6 to 12 the opportunity to make three delicious dishes at three different Downtown Disney restaurants at Walt Disney World. The kid-friendly cooking class takes place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at Fulton’s Crab House, Portobello Restaurant and Wolfgang Puck Café.

So, what will the budding chefs create? The professionals at each restaurant will help kids make Goin’ Fishin’ snack mix, ravioli gigante and dessert sushi, and then they will sample what they have created.

“Last year we had about 30 feet of fresh pasta dough spread out with kids elbow to elbow filling, forming and cutting ravioli to simulate what we do in our kitchen every day for one of our signature items, ‘Ravioli Gigante’,” said Steven Richard, area chef for Levy Restaurants and former executive chef at Portobello. “It was a huge hit, and we are doing it again this year.”

This is the third year that Portobello, Fulton’s Crab House and Wolfgang Puck Café have teamed up to offer a spring cooking class for children. Richard said the young chefs have learned to prepare “variations of sushi ranging from the well-known, such as California rolls, to chicken finger rolls and this year’s dessert sushi at Wolfgang Puck’s. We’ve done pizza and homemade ravioli at Portobello. Fulton’s has also done a range of things from chocolate chip cookies to the ” Goin’ Fishin’ ” snack mix that we will do this year.”

Parents who might be hesitant to drop off their younger children are welcome to observe and even participate in the class. Others might seize the four hours that they know their kids are well-supervised and having fun to enjoy their own lunch and shopping at Downtown Disney.

“What we try to do for adult, as well as kids’, cooking classes is to simplify and remove the mystery from things that people might not otherwise try at home. There is no reason why you can’t make sushi, homemade pizza or fresh pasta at home, yet many people are intimidated to try it,” Richard said. “Exposing children to a culture of home cooking is a very positive thing, and it can broaden the way that they look at food and inspire a healthy curiosity.”

“Last year I made sushi for 16 second-graders [in his wife’s elementary-school class] who had never tried it before. Most had never heard of it. By the end of the class, every one of them tried it and loved it,” he said. “We get much of the same reaction when we do the classes in the restaurants. Imagine having your six-year-old asking for sushi instead of a burger and fries.”

The Levy cooking class is $36 per child. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis until the class is full. To sign up, call 407-828-8996.