Publix shutters in-store Aprons Cooking School in Jacksonville, other supermarkets

Gary T. Mills, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
Updated ·2 min read
Daniel Burstein, from left, Nelda Young, Jack Botterbusch, Gennell Peterson, Bethany Prior and Avis Boulter sample the Gingerbread Gravy they made, at Aprons Cooking School at Publix on Nov. 8, 2007, as part of a Thanksgiving dinner cooking class.
Daniel Burstein, from left, Nelda Young, Jack Botterbusch, Gennell Peterson, Bethany Prior and Avis Boulter sample the Gingerbread Gravy they made, at Aprons Cooking School at Publix on Nov. 8, 2007, as part of a Thanksgiving dinner cooking class.

After nearly 17 years in Jacksonville, Publix has closed its popular hands-on cooking school, Aprons.

The school — a fixture at the Lakeland-based grocer’s 10500 San Jose Blvd. store since November 2006 — ended its run Monday night with a class on cooking with seasonal summer vegetables, including a planned menu of Zucchini Carpaccio-Style with truffled pecorino, frisée and citrus-champagne vinaigrette; Tomato Tartare with parsley puree and garlic ciabatta toasts; Grilled Corn and Romaine Salad with creamy tofu Caesar; and Roasted Mushroom Carbonara with bucatini, fresh peas and parmesan.

The Jacksonville location was one of 11 Publix Aprons Cooking Schools at stores in Georgia, Virginia and Florida, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

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"Over the 22 years since we opened our first cooking school, customer needs have evolved. So, we’ve decided to close our in-store Aprons Cooking Schools and discontinue our full-service catering efforts," Hannah Herring, a media relations manager for Publix stores, told the Times-Union via e-mail. "We are still here to help meet our customers’ entertaining and catering needs through our Gather & Share catalog and will continue to invest in our online cooking school."

Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito blows out a flaming pan during a cooking demonstration with Publix chef Patrick Walley at the new Mandarin Publix on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006, in Jacksonville.
Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito blows out a flaming pan during a cooking demonstration with Publix chef Patrick Walley at the new Mandarin Publix on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006, in Jacksonville.

Celebrity Chef Rocco DiSpirito helped christen the new cooking school, the third for Publix, at the then-new Mandarin Publix store in November 2006. Other celebrity chefs making stops included Hung Huynh (“Top Chef”), Michael Symon (“Iron Chef”) and more.

And noted local chefs, too, including Blue Bamboo’s Dennis Chan, appeared at the school for cooking demonstrations, giving Jacksonville foodies a behind-the-scenes look at how some of their favorite dishes were made.

The school featured two full kitchens for cooking demonstrations and hands-on cooking instruction. The demonstration kitchen, where guests would eat and sample wines, included flat-screen TVs mounted above the cooking area so students could watch, providing novice chefs a close-up look to improve their culinary skills. For others, the cooking school was a fun date-night experience.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Publix closes in-store Aprons Cooking School in Jacksonville