A few weeks ago My Table was invited to lunch at Courses, the aptly named, student-run restaurant at The International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Houston. With so many notable alumni chefs working around Houston — Chris Shepherd of Underbelly, Randy Evans of Haven, Charles Clark of Ibiza, Garth Blackburn of Sub Zero/Wolf and pastry chef Plinio Sandalio among them — we thought it was time we sampled the food of Houston’s next generation of culinary prodigies.

For roughly 30 years, the for-profit Art Institute of Houston was located at the corner of Yorktown Street and St. James Place near The Galleria. In 2011 the school relocated to its current address off of the Southwest Freeway near Greenway Plaza in order to provide its students with more “industry-related training and equipment,” including Courses Restaurant’s professional kitchens.

The culinary program here offers students the choice of eight degree paths, including a baking and pastry associate’s degree, culinary arts associate’s degree, restaurant and catering management associate’s degree, culinary management bachelor’s degree, food and beverage management bachelor’s degree and hospitality management bachelor’s degree. The programs don’t come cheap. On average, an associate’s degree costs roughly $45,000, and a bachelor’s degree will cost about $90,000.

Most of the programs require that students enroll to work in Courses in order to experience and master both front-of-house and kitchen duties in a realistic restaurant environment. In the quarterly class, students are required to work two days a week, with each shift being roughly seven and a half hours. Each day the students rotate positions, which include host/hostess, server and expeditor as well as different cooking stations in the kitchen such as the grill, fry, sauté and dessert stations.

Jon Alford, the school’s assistant director of culinary arts, explained that the instructors at Courses emphasize classical cooking techniques to align with the school’s classical French foundation. But Alford also stresses that students are encouraged to ask questions, and lots of them. For example, there are many ways to chop, dice or slice a tomato. So before the knife makes contact with the cutting board, Alford tells his students to always ask for the chef’s preference.

Courses Restaurant is located inside the culinary school’s building, so the dining room design is modest if not a little bland. It is open for lunch Monday through Thursday 11 am to 1 pm and for dinner Saturday 6 to 8 pm featuring a table d’hôte menu that changes weekly. The lunch menu includes soups, salads, sandwiches and entrees at absurdly reasonable prices.

Take the tomato and goat cheese salad for example (photo at top). Two breaded, pan-seared herbed goat cheese patties sat atop mixed greens that were dressed with a light roasted lemon vinaigrette and tossed with halved cherry tomatoes. It only cost us $5.50.

The bowl of cream of tomato soup with a mini grilled cheese crouton ($3, photo below) was silky smooth. It was tangy and not too rich, and the cheesy crouton, which was more like a miniature grilled cheese sandwich, was a whimsical touch. (I would have liked one to go with every bite, but the singular crouton floating in the middle of the soup did make for a nice presentation.)

Our server, Craig Holland, 32, recommended we order the churrasco steak ($8.50) served with a lightly dressed arugula salad. It had a bright, chunky chimichurri sauce drizzled across it as well as candied peppers. The steak was cooked medium/medium-rare as requested, although it was a bit chewy. The peppery bite from the arugula salad was just what was needed after a mouthful of steak and garlicky chimichurri.

The al pastor panini (photo above) was a large portion ($7) — one half could easily serve as lunch — and the thick-cut French fries quickly disappeared from the plate. The chicken had good flavor, although I would have preferred it with a bit more spicy heat.

For dessert we had mini chocolate cakes with chocolate ganache and whipped cream as well as vanilla panna cotta with strawberry sauce (photo below). I would order either dessert again, but the panna cotta was exceptionally smooth and cold. It had the consistency of a creamy custard, and it wasn’t too gelatinous. It was a satisfying end to the meal.

While we sipped our coffee, we chatted more with Holland, our waiter, who is getting his bachelor’s in culinary arts management and is also a cook at Down House, and asked about his experience in the culinary program.

“You’ll get what you put into it,” said Holland, also stressing the importance of asking questions and being engaged during classes and while working at Courses. Like many college students, Holland is over-stretched with work and studies and survives on little sleep. He goes from classes straight to his job at Down House, with no rest in between. “It is a necessary evil.”

With a majority of students getting work right after graduation — or even before — according to assistant director Alford, it seems the program is accomplishing good things for both its students and Houston’s ever-expanding culinary scene.

Courses, 4140 Southwest Freeway, 713-353-3644