At What Point Did You Realize Food Was Your Passion?

Bring up the subject of food with Justin Hoffman and he starts using phrases like “”It’s my life” and words like “passion.”

It’s been that way since long before he was a student training at the Broadmoor Bistro. And it continued long after he graduated from Shawnee Mission North in 2004 and went on to become a chef and restaurant manager.

This year, he returned to Broadmoor as the new Culinary 1 and Restaurant Management instructor. Now he shares his passion for food with students.

Hoffman talks about what it is like to return to Broadmoor and of course, about food.

At what point did you realize food was your passion?

I wrote my first paper in third-grade on wanting to be a chef. My father and I always used to cook together on Sundays. There is always going to be a memory of that and I think that started it.

From there, I took every Family and Consumer Science class. In my sophomore year, my cooking teacher at North said, “You should check out Broadmoor.”

It was a done-deal once I came over here. I thought, “I was born for this. This is all there is.” It went from a hobby to a passion. It wasn’t until I came here that I knew it could be a career.

Broadmoor truly shaped me, not only as a beginning professional, but as an individual as well.

You graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. From there, you gained experience as a restaurant chef and manager. What made you decide to return to Broadmoor to teach?

I felt I had reached my potential with my position and I taught on an everyday basis. I was always teaching servers or cooks or retraining. Everyone told me in those jobs, “You’re good at explaining, you’re good at teaching.” So I started thinking ‘Maybe it’s not such a bad idea.’

I thought that maybe I could have a bigger impact on young culinarians, if I could reach them at their earlier learning stages allowing them hopefully to reach their maximum potential before entering the industry. I know what Broadmoor has done for me and others I was in school with – now I am making a difference with students.

What is it like to be back, teaching in the place you once learned?

When I was a student here, we utilized the classroom as our dining room. We put linens on the tables in our classrooms and served only our friends and family. In the last few years, it has grown tremendously. It went from being a regular classroom to being a gorgeous restaurant. We went from playing restaurant, to actually running a business.

It’s different now because the culinary and hospitality education is really open to the public to come and evaluate. I see the importance of the new restaurant structure at the school and how it is shaping the education through participative learning. Anyone can come and eat at the Bistro and evaluate the culinary education our students are receiving. We need customers to tell us what we need to improve on. I believe this is the major difference in the quality of the education the students receive. Nothing can replace experience as a final assessment of skills.

The Broadmoor Bistro holds a homecoming celebration on Oct. 25. You will be one of three returning chefs (along with alumni Joe West and Brad Kilgore) preparing the meals for guests. Are you looking forward to it?

I’m very excited to cook with Joe and Brad again. We were among the first to go out, get scholarships, and help build this program a bit.

I’m excited to have fun and cook together and talk about our experiences – about how we took different routes, but still have the same background.

It is always good to learn from your peers, but most importantly we have a message to share with the students at Broadmoor. We understand where they are coming from and we hope that they will listen to what we have to say about taking advantage of their education while they are at Broadmoor. The three of us are just a small example of the success that the students have the ability to achieve. But it takes hard work!

So please tell me. When cooking for yourself in your free time, do you cook what you’ve learned in culinary school? Or on the weekends do you go for something out of a box?

You know, the only time I really cook is if I’m cooking for somebody else. I love to have dinner parties with my friends and family. My mom is always signing me up to cook for her and her friends.

When cooking for myself, we’re talking chicken on the grill and a baked potato, tacos, and spaghetti. I like food that is simple, fresh, tasty, and as seasonal and local as possible. I’m still in the process of creating my dream garden at home.

But nothing, no matter how much education I have or experience I gain-- nothing ever beats my mom’s cooking. There’s a sense of comfort when you have Mom’s cooking. There’s nothing better.