Chef Monette sits in the culinary arts classroom within the Northwest Technical Center, in St. Albans Vermont. The room is sparse, but the real action takes place in the kitchen nearby.

Chef sits in his traditional Chef whites, many students in the tech center have never seen him in anything but this attire

During our conversation, Chef was placing an order to restock his kitchen at the school. It is clear that Chef is both busy in the classroom and also outside the classroom. This is due to a new restaurant that he will be opening. He has been passionately working on the restaurant for the past couple of months. When asked about starting a restaurant and why he chose to take a leap in the middle of his career, he said that it had always been his dream, and then added “When you have a dream, you have an obligation to that dream.”

The process of opening his restaurant has been slow, he just acquired his first piece of equipment. The restaurant will be on the corner of Congress street and Main Street. Chef plans on serving french cuisine at his new restaurant, as well as breads and pastries in the morning. He doesn’t want to just stick to one area in his cooking, “I don’t want to be painted with a specific brush because I have interests in many other aspects.”

In some ways, the community’s gain is the Tech Center’s loss. After the restaurant opens, Chef will no longer be teaching the Culinary Arts program. While his career at the Northwest Technical Center will end, his career in teaching will not be over. He shared that although he will postpone his education career he feels that a person is never done educating, “Though I will be done with the Tech Center, I will not be done with education for my entire career.” He spoke about his long term goal of opening and running a post secondary culinary school above the restaurant. Many students have benefited from Chefs teaching. He prepares students for real life in the kitchen, and many students have graduated and gone to culinary school, or went straight to the kitchen.

While Chef will be in a different setting, his career will continue to push forward and his teaching years won’t be over. Chef shared his hopes for his new restaurant and his career going forward, “I hope to be in a place where I can support other people’s dreams.”