Jim Butler’s Viking Culinary Center

If there is such a thing as foodie heaven, then Jim Butler has brought it right down to Earth on Lakewood Ranch’s Main Street.  The country’s newest Viking© Culinary Center, opened by Butler in September, has become something of a culinary playground for those of all ages.

The Center houses a 35-seat amphitheater studded with cameras and video screens for close-up viewing of cooking demonstrations, a wine bar for cozy, evenings socializing over favorite vintages, a large, private space for hands-on cooking classes with top notch chefs, and a retail area filled with must-haves for the well-appointed kitchen.

The amphitheater, wine bar and retail area are sleekly contemporary, and a lighted bar top of semi-precious agate in the Paradise Bar provides a mesmerizing focal point.  In contrast, the spacious hands-on room with its warm golden hues looks like a kitchen plucked from an enormous Normandy chateau.  The kitchen is stunning and well designed to highlight the features of the Viking appliances and cooking tools the Center showcases.

For Butler, the Center is a natural extension of Paradise Homes and Extreme Remodeling, his new home construction and remodeling businesses.  Designers from his Osprey Avenue Design Center created the Culinary Center’s interior spaces.  “We develop our home designs based on how people live.  Our goal is to build homes that fit today’s lifestyles, and cooking has become such a huge interest for people that beautiful gourmet kitchens and outdoor living areas with kitchens are standard features in our homes,” Butler said.  “We believe in the lifestyle so much, we opened the Viking Culinary Center to give our clients and others the tools they need and the training to show them how to use these beautiful kitchens and maximize the enjoyment of their homes.”

Judging from the response to the Center in just four months, he has struck a chord with many people who have rushed to fill the numerous cooking classes and demonstrations, sip wine at the Paradise Bar, book private events, and shop for just the right place settings, cookware and kitchen gadgets for their own homes.  The Center’s built in grill and outdoor tables with eye-catching royal blue umbrellas have become a popular First Friday gathering spot where people can enjoy sausage and pepper sandwiches or prime rib burgers.  Hot dogs are available for the kids along with chips or a side dish and beer on tap or wine.  Two large screen TVs in the windows allow passers-by to watch live cooking demonstrations being conducted in the amphitheater.

Overseeing all events and operations at the Center is its very own celebrity chef.  Chris Covelli, general manager and executive resident chef, calls himself a food entertainer who spent 13 years teaching cooking in Italy and has been a regular on stage at conventions and the Home Shopping Network.  Most recently, he has been tapped for the Food Network’s new Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off, which pits food mogul Rachael Ray against the boisterous, platinum-spiked Guy Fieri, each with a team of celebrities.

Covelli, and the 10 other chefs who teach cooking classes and conduct demonstrations at the Center, spice up the educational aspects with a generous dollop of humor and a splash of showmanship, ensuring there is something for everyone from the serious enthusiast to the novice.  Participants in a recent hands-on class ranged in skill from a professional chef and his wife to a family of visitors with their teenage children.  Everyone contributed, and everyone enjoyed the meal they had helped prepare.  The adult participants chatted about the food and about which of two wines served with each course they thought was the best pairing while the teens enjoyed an alcohol-free sparkler.  “Some people are really serious about food, and we try to give the technical side that no one else can provide.  We also incorporate some humor for people who may be intimidated by the kitchen or who are just breaking in to the experience,” Covelli said.  “It’s a no-brainer.  If you want the ultimate food experience along with some education and a little entertainment, this is the place.”

Classes typically are designed around a theme, and participants leave with a sheaf of recipes they are encouraged to try at home.   Themes may range from Parisian or Mexican cuisine to recreating recipes from Great American steakhouses.  This month, culinary excursions range from Argentine steakhouses, Thai, Southern Italian, Jewish cooking and French Creole to dishes inspired by the movie “Julie and Julia,” Teens Sushi, Cheese 101, and Tailgating Party.  In addition, regular weekly features include Date Night for couples and Girls’ Night Out along with a variety of classes for kids.  Classes also are available on cooking basics like improving knife skills.

“We try to teach worldwide cuisine here as authentically as possible,” Covelli says.  “Pick any city you’ve traveled to.  You don’t have to go there, you can have that experience here.  People say they miss special foods from their former homes, so in January, we did Chicago steakhouse and New York steakhouse to recreate those flavors.  It also could be a taste of Tuscany, Portugal, a Paris bistrot, or anything else,” he said.  “From a chef’s perspective, this is the biggest playground I ever could have wanted, and the food here has to be five-star because that’s the way Jim builds his homes.”  The Center also can accommodate more than 100 for private events that have ranged from birthday and anniversary parties to private hands-on cooking classes and demonstrations to seminars and corporate team-building events.

The focus on creating and recreating memorable food experiences with meticulous attention to detail reflects Butler’s approach to creating homes designed to be well lived in as an important part of a fulfilling lifestyle.  “A lot of baby boomers built part of our portfolios based on buying and selling real estate, and we lost sight of what a home is really for,” Butler said.  “Our parents’ generation was able to keep a house a home.  It was their pride and joy.  They understood what the purpose of a home is and why owning a home was the American dream.  Home is the hub of the family.  It’s for sheltering the family, entertaining friends and relations and enjoying the fruits of our labors, and we want to help people get back to that.”

Butler says today’s homeowner has moved beyond mega-homes because they found bigger isn’t always better when it comes to lifestyle.  Today, people want functional spaces that fit how they use their homes and those high-end amenities and luxuries that make life more pleasurable.  To meet those desires, Butler began including those amenities and luxuries as standard offerings in all his homes.   In addition to gourmet kitchens and outdoor kitchens equipped with Viking appliances for entertaining or intimate family meals, Paradise Homes have beautiful fireplace walls for indoor gatherings in chilly weather.  Also a part of every home are granite countertops throughout the house, Wood-Mode® cabinetry, and Hinkley® lighting, and many green features such as energy-saving double-pane Low-E impact resistant windows.

“I’ve learned that a home is a big part of our lives and not just an investment,” Butler said.  “It should be treated as a reward for your hard work and efforts so that you can enjoy your time off.”
Because cooking has become essential to that enjoyment, the Viking Culinary Center is a natural extension of Butler’s desire to help people establish homes that truly support the creation of their desired lifestyle.  “You can take cooking to whatever level you want.  It’s creative and a way to challenge yourself,” he says.  “After all, how much golf or tennis can you play?  A lot of men come in here looking for a new hobby, and cooking becomes a new interest.  Plus, there’s a big reward at the end.”

Butler gives a lot of credit for the Center’s early success to his team.  “They are dedicated to what we believe in here and love what they do, and people can feel the passion,” he says.  “We plan to continue to grow our staff and want to bring in some celebrity chefs and chefs from around the world.  It’s the people who put the heart into what we are trying to bring to the community.  Without the people, this is just a building.”