In the morning you can find Elizabeth Ricardelli preparing the kitchen of the Tappan Green Restaurant for students and staff. Ricardelli teaches the Restaurant and Culinary Careers I elective, where students work in Tappan Green Restaurant, located in the STEM wing. Ricardelli has managed restaurants before and has taught cooking courses via Zoom. She enjoys cooking with friends and family and experimenting with new recipes.

What does the preparation for a day in the kitchen look like?

So typically, I’m the first one to show up in the morning and I come in and turn on the equipment. The other two chefs usually come half an hour later, and we set a few things up together. We all come in a little early so that we can start breakfast right at 7:30 a.m. That way, staff and students who are here early can come in and get some food or get a drink right when they come to work.

How does the restaurant operate?

It’s a little different from most restaurants because if you go to a restaurant and sit down at a table, you have time to sit and eat. Students only have a certain amount of time to eat lunch, and staff only has a certain amount of time to eat lunch. So, we have to make sure everything is ready before lunch begins. And when people order things, it can be ready in like a matter of seconds versus like 10 to 15 minutes.

What previous experience did you have in restaurant management that led you to managing the Tapan Green restaurant?

I was managing the kitchen at a restaurant I used to work at and I was leaving work at like three in the morning because we had a bar that closed at one. But I loved the job, so I was like, how can I do this but not work the crazy hours anymore? And so, I went back to school and got some of the things that I was missing from my experience and got an associate’s degree in culinary and hospitality. Then, I saw the post online that Brookline was looking for an assistant in their old restaurant space, Restaurant 108, I worked [there] previously for six years. The year after [COVID] is when [Tappan Green] opened. I applied for the teacher position and got hired as the teacher in this position and have been here for three years now.

What’s your favorite thing to cook?

I don’t know if I have a favorite thing specifically, but I love cooking for groups of people. I’ll always make-up fun recipes with things that I’ve never tried. I tend to cook some Italian food just because my family is Italian and it’s the stuff I grew up with, but I honestly just like cooking things for other people and enjoying it with other people.