Before Patty Fambrini taught Culinary Arts, she headed a kitchen as executive chef, owned her own catering business, and managed her own cafe. Now, after 16 years in the classroom, Fambrini is retiring.
“I became a teacher because many years ago my landlord told me, ‘If you are so fortunate to bring the elevator to the top, bring it back down and put people in it,’” Fambrini said. “Help make other people successful.”
After graduating from culinary school at San Francisco State University in xxxx , Fambrini became executive chef at a catering company in San Francisco for _ years. From there, she opened two of her own catering businesses, Catering For All Seasons and Fambrini’s Cafe.
“I’d always been in the back of the house, so owning my own business was a bit different,” Fambrini said. “I got tired of always being in a chef outfit, and wanted to get dressed up and not always smell like food.”
While catering an event for one of her clients, she met former Los Altos High School Assistant Principal Cristy Dawson. There, Fambrini told Dawson she wanted to be a culinary teacher. Shortly, she got the job at LAHS.
“It’s serendipitous that I happened to be catering for her husband and she was there,” Fambrini said. “It really was a success all around.”
While teaching, Fabrini continued managing Fambrini’s Cafe. However, the workload of both managing a restaurant and teaching became too much, and she sold Fambrini’s in 2011. The switch from working in a catering company to teaching students was drastic — an experience that Fambrini struggled with initially.
“My first day of teaching, I had kids throwing spitballs at me,” Fambrini said. “I didn’t have any classroom management — no idea. I thought I was going in just to teach cooking.”
That summer, she planned out how to instill discipline in her students. Her teaching style came to mimic her managing style — both keeping the class under control, and preparing them for working in restaurants.
“It is not a traditional classroom with chairs and desks — this is a moving classroom,” Fambrini said. “The teacher needs to have eyes in the back of their head.”
“She runs the class like a very beautiful factory conveyor belt,” junior Alejandro Gamero said. “Everybody’s hands are a different machine, powered by the pride of cooking to work hard.”
Beyond cooking techniques and recipes, Fambrini teaches her students about the rich culture behind the cuisines they make.
“She’s always made sure to teach us the history of different types of food — where they come from and the reasons they were developed,” Alejandro said. “It gives me a very good understanding of food and the culture behind it.”
One way she honors cultures behind dishes is Culinary’s annual Thanksgiving banquet. Each year, they highlight a cuisine from different cultures for students to prepare.
“We put all the tables down the center, sit down as a family, and eat together,” Fambrini said. “It’s one of my favorite traditions.”
This year, Fambrini added a banquet to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, highlighting Latin American cuisine.
“I have such a beautiful diverse group of children from well over Latin America,” Fambrini said. “I want them to excel. I want them to be so proud of where they come from.”
Fambrini’s culinary expertise also enables students to bring the skills they learn in school back home.
“This class has shown me a lot of new techniques I can use in the future,” sophomore Alexander Nava Sanchez said. “I’ve started to help my family out more at home and make the recipes she teaches us.”
Ultimately, Fambrini hopes to leave a legacy of truly caring for her students, and teaching them everything she knows.
“I hope they remember me by my kindness,” Fambrini said. “You need to have a passion for what you do, especially in cooking, because it’s all about feel, it’s all about love.”
