Pizza Quest: From Chef to Teacher, Alyssa and Andrew Wilen of Alyssa’s Kitchen

Welcome back to Pizza Quest!

In this episode we step away from pizza for a moment and focus on the craft of culinary teaching for the everyday person.  I first met Chef Alyssa Gorelick about 15 years ago when she was at the helm of a very innovative vegetarian restaurant called Fern. She was young and single and super talented.  Fast forward to today and she is now Alyssa Wilen, a mother, happily married to her husband Andrew, and for a number of years they have been operating a cooking school here in Charlotte (where we all live) called Alyssa’s Kitchen.  Along the way I found out that Alyssa was not a vegetarian when she was the chef at Fern, but adapted her skills to that cuisine because, well, she could.  It’s that kind of artisanal spirit that propelled her and Andrew to tackle the daunting task of opening a cooking school for home cooks, then navigating through the pandemic to survive, and ultimately growing an important and beloved local business. Resilience and entrepreneurship are the key words here, so tune in as we hear all about the journey and creative process of Alyssa and Andrew Wilen, here on Pizza Quest.