Are you afraid of a frying pan? Maybe you could be a “Top Chef” contender and you’re just looking to expand your repertoire. Whether you’re one or the other… or anywhere in between, cooking classes are a great way to learn to cook, improve your culinary skills, meet like-minded foodies and have a lot of fun.

We sampled a bunch of cooking classes around town to get a feel for the “vibe.” Here were our favorites.

Mozza

6602 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 297-0100
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Mozza, run by culinary greats Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich, offers the Rolls Royce of cooking classes. A special wood-paneled private kitchen and dining room nestled between the Osteria and the Mozza2Go is the setting for this culinary expedition. For our pizza class, students got a demonstration from one of Mozza’s chefs and a hands-on lesson in kneading dough and shaping crust. Students sat lined along the far side of a marble counter so they all had a view of the teacher and some counter space to work their dough. In addition to the food the instructor prepares, Mozza lays out antipasti for students so you won’t be starving during the demonstration. During this class, the wine flowed freely, and there was more pizza offered than I was capable of actually sampling. This is a lovely class that’s perfect for first-timers or serious foodies who want to know how they make that fabulous pizza. More demonstration than actual cooking, this class was culinary entertainment. Enjoy this intimate class with a friend or your spouse.

Eatz LA

612 N. La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(310) 824-3586
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Niki at EATZ LA offers a super fun, social and informative experience with the cooking classes she offers in her brand new space on La Brea just south of Melrose. The students are positioned around a giant counter where they are partnered with one other student to share a burner, cutting board and tools. Niki is less of a professorial type, lecturing her students, than a hands-on participant in her classes, encouraging students to try all aspects of preparing whatever menu she’s planned. One thing I love about Niki is that she includes a “cocktail” – or in our case a “sangria” – as the first item on the menu to help warm up the class. This is a very social, hands-on class where you’ll engage with the other students and create, as a group, delicious fare you can recreate easily at home.

Sur La Table

6333 W 3rd St # P10
Los Angeles, CA 90036-7637
(323) 954-9190
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The cooking classes at Sur la Table at the Grove start out in lecture format as the chef/teacher gives a run down on kitchen safety before the students break down into groups and move to the different “stations” around the kitchen. Each station prepares a different item on the “menu” and students are allowed to either stay at one station from start to finish or to move about to the other stations and see how the other items are prepared. This is a wonderfully hands-on class where you learn a lot about cooking technique and tools. Yes…sometimes you suspect you’re in an infomercial when they’re plugging the grill pan they use, but there is no pressure to buy. Technique is emphasized and the knowledgeable staff of instructors/sous chefs helped make this a very worthy and informative class. They don’t serve wine (although you’re allowed to bring your own or you can pick up a bottle at one of the merchant stands in the farmer’s market) but the organic flow of this class facilitated conversation and camaraderie among the students.

Chef’s Inc.

10955 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 470-2277
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Chef’s Inc is located in a cozy yellow storefront on West Pico Boulevard. Their kitchen “lab” is equipped with eight fully-equipped workstations. Classes begin with students being handed an apron and recipe booklet, and getting a brief lecture before they are broken down into groups. Each group chooses what they would like to tackle on the menu and the combined efforts of the various groups results in a lovely buffet and sit-down dinner. Students are welcome to bring wine or alcohol. With a minimum class size of five and a maximum class size of fifteen, the classes at Chef’s Inc. are a great hands-on, social and fun cooking experience.

NY Cake West

10665 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 481-0875
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For a mom of school age kids, cake is practically its own food group. With bake sales, birthdays and class parties I am baking cakes 24/7. And the prettier they look the prouder I am. So it seemed only fitting to include NY Cake West in this cooking class round-up. NY Cake West is the Los Angeles location for this New York City based cake decorating company. NY Cake West offers single classes, private classes and series classes on the whole gamut of cake decorating styles; flours, piping, fondants, gum and paste…everything! The kitchen classroom holds nine students and is set up with two long tables so the instructor can work in between and monitor your work. A basic decorating class is a series of four classes and you’ll learn to ice a smooth cake, make rosettes, learn how to design cake boards, decorate astonishing cupcakes, pipe flowers and just generally decorate a cake that will astound your family and friends.

Amanda Cushman / “Simple Real Food” Inc.

Surfa’s Restaurant Supply / Test Kitchen

8777 Washington Blvd
Culver City, California
(310) 559-4770
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Amanda Cushman is a culinary educator who has cooked professionally and taught for over twenty five years, and has developed recipes for many culinary magazines including Food and Wine, Cooking Light, and Fine Cooking. Her cooking classes combine technique and ethnic flavors to “bring you an experience of world cuisine.” The classes are completely hands-on and include a meal and wine after the class. She has a wide variety of class themes from low-fat and easy to best ever pasta and Thai cooking for Entertaining.

The Gourmandise School

Surfa’s Restaurant Supply / Test Kitchen

8777 Washington Blvd
Culver City, California
(310) 382-4692
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I would be remiss to not mention The Gourmandise School, also currently offering classes out of Surfa’s in Culver City. The Gourmandise School offers classes – mostly in baking and pastry – four or five times a week. In April they’ll be opening their own space at Santa Monica Place where they’ll be offering 15 – 20 classes a week. Classes range from biscuits and muffins to opera cakes and French macaroons. Their classes are very hands on and they limit classes to 12 students so everyone has a chance to do everything. By teaching “the chemistry of baking in a warm and intuitive environment, “ the Gourmandise School takes the intimidation out of baking. GET THIS! They also offer a baking hotline at (310) 382-4692 (same number as above) where you can call in with all of your baking questions! How great is THAT?