Fallbrook High students cook up a storm at the Warrior Grille!

It’s not just your ordinary foods class, and the students seem to have a great time as they watch their teacher, Larry Koch, create in the Warrior Grille kitchen. Students then emulate the teacher and the restaurant patrons benefit from this unique learning experience. Way beyond a normal foods class where rather mundane food is prepared, then eaten by the students, this class is a real-life restaurant where the food had better be excellent or the students will hear about it from perfect strangers who come to the restaurant in expectation of a professional restaurant experience. As a result of the students’ efforts the public can expect good food at reasonable prices.

Fallbrook High School students serve dinner to the public at the Warrior Grille each Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30 to 6:15 p.m. Fallbrook Union High School’s Restaurant Occupations class, which is part of the Diego County Regional Occupational Program (ROP), is led by teacher/chef Larry Koch, who has a background in restaurant management with Aloha Restaurants. The program provides valuable training where students are able to earn high school elective credits and an ROP certificate.

It may be an unconventional location for a restaurant — and it’s a bit difficult to find at first — but once you find it, you won’t be disappointed. The students have worked hard to create a restaurant-like atmosphere in the school classroom, which is located in the same building as the cafeteria, but in the back.

The inside of the restaurant is decorated like a café one might find in the Florida Keys — with fans as accent pieces and a Florida Keys beach scene painted on one wall. The wall mural was created by two of last year’s Warrior Grille students, Sirena Subash and Marco Moreno, who both graduated in 2004. The tables are decorated with votive candles and fish swim around in a small aquarium. The grill does serve fish, but not the kind you’ll find in that aquarium!

A student stands at attention behind the counter, waiting for the next customer. Tonight that student is Barbara Lara, who thinks that working at the Warrior Grille is “very cool.” Barbara also wanted me to know that “serving the people was nerve-wracking at first, but you get used to it.” She doesn’t plan on getting into the restaurant business, but she is wise to realize that her training is definitely “something to fall back on.”

The restaurant offers a wide variety of food, including appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, and entrees (Fish Tacos, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Fried Chicken and Fish and Chips). The dessert menu is also tempting with its Apple Cobbler with Ice Cream and delicious Mudd Pie.

The tortilla soup is packed with corn and garnished with cheese and tortilla strips. Billed on the menu as “Our Famous Tortilla Soup” it is a spicy and delicious concoction.

The Fish and Chips is also a good choice. The chips (fries) are tender, but not limp, and the fresh fish is lightly battered, then fried to crispy perfection. I can honestly say that this dish will give any fish and chips establishment some healthy competition — even those in England!

Please call (760) 723-6300, extension 3704, for further information.