Put Down the Wineglass

The Washington State Liquor Control Board has halted the lawless
drinking of chardonnay during cooking classes on Beacon Hill. Culinary
Communion House, a cooking school in a lovingly restored Craftsman, was
quiet last Wednesday afternoon until, according to owner Gabriel
Claycamp, a “shitstorm” hit when a Washington State Liquor Control
Board enforcement officer arrived. The demonstration kitchen and airy
dining room, with its long communal tables, awaited that night’s
hands-on “Northwest Seafood” class when the knock at the door came.

According to Claycamp, the officer, who ordered Culinary Communion
to cease and
desist using alcohol on the premises (including for
wine reduction sauces), said, “I’m not here to arrest you, though I
could. But I will next time.” No fine was issued.

State law prohibits drinking alcohol during culinary courses and
requires written approval to cook with alcohol during such courses.
Should a culinary school wish to serve wine during classes (or make
pears poached in Calvados without a note from the WSLCB), it must
obtain a restaurant license or a beer/wine specialty shop license. A
restaurant wine license is $200, but attendant equipment and other
requirements must be met; a specialty shop license is $100, which
entails maintaining a $3,000 wholesale beer and/or wine inventory.
Claycamp said Culinary Communion has been operating for the last seven
years under his understanding that no liquor license was required. The
WSLCB says the officer was responding to a specific complaint and that
enforcement occurs on a complaint-driven basis.

Complaints about culinary schools are uncommon, says the WSLCB,
though the law seems ill understood. The Stranger spoke with
three of the handful of private culinary schools in the area: One, Dish
it up! in Magnolia, has a liquor license; another said they obtained
individual banquet permits for classes involving wine, which according
to the WSLCB is still illegal; the third, like Culinary Communion, has
been operating without a license.

Claycamp suspects a disgruntled former employee filed the Culinary
Communion complaint (the complainant requested anonymity, as allowed by
the law).

Claycamp has also been what he terms “a regular contributor” to the
local underground restaurant Gypsy. Underground restaurants, a recent
urban trend, operate without liquor licenses and health inspections,
with diners paying stipulated “donations.” They’re typically kept
hush-hush; Gypsy has been featured in local press as well as on Anthony
Bourdain’s television series No Reservations. Claycamp is
listed as a guest chef in the “Rogue’s Gallery” on the Gypsy website
(gypsydinners.com), along with
prominent local chefs such as Ethan Stowell (of Union, Tavolata, and
How to Cook a Wolf) and Tamara Murphy (of Brasa).

A histrionic e-mail to the Gypsy community last Thursday—the
day after Culinary Communion’s WSLCB visit—said Gypsy had been
“betrayed” and that “Camelot has ended… We are going much deeper
underground… And to the traitor to the clan we offer you this: May
you never sleep well, may laughter sound bitter in your ears, and may
food always taste like ashes to you… this is our Gypsy curse.”

Claycamp acknowledges that Gypsy dinners were occasionally hosted on
Culinary Communion’s premises. He says the
WSLCB officer did not
mention Gypsy, but adds skeptically, “We walked away thinking he knows
a lot more than he’s letting on.”

Meanwhile at Culinary Communion, classes such as “Lunch in Paris”
and “Entertaining Spanish Style: Tapas” will be conducted dry. Claycamp
is consulting a lawyer in hopes of adding a cooking school category to
the law or bringing Culinary Communion into compliance as quickly and
inexpensively as possible.

bethany@thestranger.com