THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF MAMMOTH

Published in the May 9 2026 edition.

Mammoth High School students got a taste of culinary school this year, and throughout May, the public can taste the results.

Under the guidance of first-year culinary instructor Stacey Slichta, students transformed the school’s previously dormant culinary program into a hands-on restaurant incubator modeled after the teaching philosophy of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America.

Slichta arrived in Mammoth this year after a 25-year career as a private chef in Los Angeles. She moved to the Eastern Sierra for her 14-year-old son, a competitive snowboarder, and stumbled across the teaching position almost by accident.

“I’m a trained chef, so that’s the perspective I took with this job,” she said. “I took it in line with the CIA, the building block system of education.”

Over time, the five culinary classes (roughly 50 students total) began catering district functions, including school board meetings and events.

“We’ve done probably close to $100,000 worth of food production this year,” she said.

By the second semester, students were ready for the program’s final project of creating fully functioning restaurants from the ground up.

Each class developed its own restaurant concept, handling every aspect of the business themselves. Throughout May, each student-run restaurant will operate one Friday night service open to the public.

They brainstormed concepts, designed logos and websites, developed menus, assigned front-of-house and back-of-house roles, built budgets, ordered ingredients, selected dishware, and will ultimately prepare and serve the meals themselves.

To help students prepare, Slichta organized field trips tailored to each class’s concept and interests. Some groups traveled to San Francisco, Las Vegas or Reno to study restaurants and hospitality operations firsthand, while others stayed in Mammoth Lakes.

She also collaborated with Career Technical Education construction instructor Mike VanWinkle to build student-designed props and screen print restaurant uniforms.

Though Slichta said she spent more money than program had spent in previous years, she believes the student catering work more than offsets the cost.

“For example, we’ve done the in-service for the staff,” she said. “Last year, they spent $10,000 on it. This year, we did it for $2,500.”

If it isn’t clear already, Slichta is not a conventional teacher and she has no intention of becoming one.

“You don’t understand,” she said of her plans for the future. “I’m not even at 50%.”

Raised in Buffalo, New York, Slichta attended Rutgers University on a rowing scholarship while working at the Hyatt as a room service cashier to help pay for school. Over time, she worked her way up through the hotel industry and eventually landed a position in San Francisco as a director of catering.

There was just one problem. She had no formal or practical kitchen experience. 

So, largely out of necessity, she applied to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. She jokes that the chefs she worked with had to exaggerate her kitchen background just to help get her admitted.

“I was just doing it so I could talk chef-y with people,” she said. “All these people were hardcore, and here I am, making mashed potatoes look like a smiley face.”

Instead, she discovered a talent for the craft.

One of her mentors later pushed her to audition for a private chef position with the family of Donald Tober, the late CEO of Sweet’N Low, and Barbara Tober, former editor-in-chief of Bride magazine.

Slichta approached the audition casually, cooking mostly with ingredients from the family’s garden. She was stunned when they offered her the job.

That opportunity launched a decades-long career cooking for wealthy and high-profile clients, though Slichta doesn’t like to view her work through the lens of status.

“Cooking for a famous person is just as important as cooking for your family,” she said. That’s a lesson she hopes to instill in her students.

Though she originally moved to the Sierra intending to retire, she couldn’t ignore the opportunity she saw in Mammoth High School’s vacant culinary position.

“Coming to a resort town and seeing that they didn’t have a culinary arts program was mind blowing,” she said. “I couldn’t understand why nobody has ever done this.”

Her hope is to teach students life skills, like organization, budgeting and food preparation. But some have taken it further, and eight culinary arts students have found jobs in local food and beverage institutions.

Slichta’s classroom reflects the energy she has brought to the program.

One wall features a tongue-in-cheek “wall of injuries” displaying framed photos of just three minor kitchen cuts.

Student birthdays are marked on the classroom calendar, and she bakes each student a cake for their special day. Googley eyes decorate the refrigerator, while student-made decorations shift with the seasons, from Valentine’s Day roses to butterflies hanging from the ceiling.

Next year, Slichta hopes to expand the program further by turning her Culinary 2 classes into what is essentially a student-run catering business — if she can convince administrators to sign off on it. Her classes are already full.

For now, though, the public will have to settle for one-night-only dinners at Mammoth High’s student-run restaurants.

The first event in the series featured handcrafted pastries and artisanal aguas frescas. This Friday, May 8, students will host Greek restaurant “Aionios.” On May 15, students will open Chinese buffet concept “Iron Hoof Kitchen.” The final Friday of the month, May 22, will feature Cajun soul food restaurant “Soul in the Sierras.”

Reservations for “Iron Hoof Kitchen” can be made by emailing ironhoofkitchen2026@gmail.com. Dinner costs $35 per person for dine-in service or $20 per plate for takeout.

Reservations for “Soul in the Sierras” can be made by emailing soulinthesierras2026@gmail.com. Dinner service begins at 6 p.m. and costs $45 per person for dine-in service or $20 per selection for takeout.

Payment for all events is cash or Venmo only, and all proceeds support Mammoth High School’s culinary arts program.