Kris Almsted became our Director of Culinary Services this past spring. He is responsible for every bite of food served on our campus. That includes all of the food served in the six Households at Episcopal Church Home, in Transitional Care, at Iris Park Commons, in our Café, and soon, the fine dining room in The Terrace at Iris Park, the Bistro in Midway Village Plaza, and the six Green House Homes in Episcopal Church Home – The Gardens.“After graduating Culinary School in 1993, I’ve worked in a number of different food service establishments as a Line Chef, Executive Chef and Food Service Director,” says Kris. “What I love most is working with the folks in the kitchen of a beautiful senior community like Episcopal Homes. I find it hugely satisfying to help others grow and learn as much as they can about things they’re passionate about. It really makes my day to know that we’ve prepared a meal as a team and made many people’s day.”
The food served at Episcopal Homes has long been considered one of our strong points, but Kris is out to raise the bar. Here are some of the changes he’s brought about so far:
- No more instant potatoes! We’ve purchased a large potato peeler and we’re now able to make real mashed potatoes for the entire campus.
- Fresh, made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls every Tuesday and Friday from 10:00am until gone!
- Created a baking area in our large kitchen to allow us to make more fresh breads, pastries and much more.
- Hired a new Sous Chef (Jennifer Camplin), an all-around chef with a specialty in pastries and baking.
- Head Chef Michael Patterson has been working on developing a number of new made-from-scratch salad dressings, and they are tasting awesome!
- Developing a new “anytime” room service program for our TCU guests.
On Kris’s radar:
- Develop a fresh bread program and have breads available for purchase.
- Provide more fresh vegetables whenever we can.
- Provide ongoing Culinary training to entire Culinary department (including staff in what will soon be 12 Episcopal Church Home households). All of us always have more to learn – and we want to learn because we take pride in what we do!
- New uniforms for entire culinary staff.
“It’s my goal as The Director of Culinary Service to provide great quality, fresh, properly prepared, tasty, and the most beautiful food we can on a consistent basis. I’d like for us to be known for our outstanding food and a most wonderful dining experience. We have a number of things to work on. I’m confident with ongoing training and providing our team with the right tools we’ll reach this goal. Team work makes the dream work!”
This is great news! I’ve continued to be impressed by the variety and quality of food served at ECH. Could you work on enhancing the purée textures and tastes too (My mom is on a purée diet.)?
I like to keep several kinds of bread at the same time. So, I hope the fresh Bread for sale program will include half-size loaves of some of these: whole wheat,rye,buckwheat,multi-grain and maybe occassionally even Salt Rising bread – it smells stinky, but when toasted it is wonderful!!! When I was much younger we could find it, but now, most bakers never heard of it.