When most people think “college cooking,” Ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese and PB&J come to mind. That’s not the case for Bakersfield College student Colby Tharp.
Tharp has been cooking since he was a child and is now involved in the campus restaurant, The Renegade Room, working toward a degree in culinary arts and business administration.
Tharp started cooking with his mother when he was “about eight or 10,” he said. He’d help her in the kitchen, and he quickly picked cooking up and started to enjoy it. The first dish he remembers making was his mother’s recipe for flank steak, a flat steak that intimidated Tharp.
“I was kind of scared because I had to butterfly cut it. I was scared of messing it up,” Tharp said. “It didn’t come together, there were a bunch of holes. It was an interesting creation.”
Despite this first mishap, Tharp did not give up, thanks to his mother’s words of encouragement, he said. Tharp credits his parents as his biggest influences.
“I didn’t do that well in high school; I wasn’t a very good student, so [my parents] really support me in this,” he said.
Tharp decided to pursue cooking professionally because, “After high school, I realized I hadn’t really done anything. Cooking has always been there.”
Tharp’s favorite kind of food to cook is healthy food; he does not like to cook with butter or lard, and he mostly enjoys cooking vegetables and chicken.
The best part about cooking for Tharp is the compliments he receives when people eat his food, and his biggest culinary accomplishment has been working at Oaks Tree Country Club in Tehachapi.
“I started as a dishwasher, moved to prep and then I was promoted to pantry chef. [When I was promoted] I felt like Bugs Bunny on the moon!” said Tharp. “Working at the country club helped me. My knife skills are better, and [it taught me] when you’re in a pinch, you learn. The kitchen is a really high-stress place.”
Tharp graduated from Granada Hills Charter High School in San Fernando Valley and when he came to the Bakersfield area from Los Angeles, he was skeptical about BC.
“I thought ‘BC? What’s that going to be like?’ But [the culinary program here] is tough; it’s not a walk in the park. You really have to apply yourself,” Tharp said. “My biggest obstacle has been just learning everything. You can cook at home all you want, but professionally, it’s so much different.”
Chef Suzanne Davis is one of Tharp’s culinary professors at BC. She described Tharp as an “extremely inquisitive student.” She also said that he really cares about what he is doing, and he encourages the other students to be just as inquisitive.
“Colby has a very clear purpose of what he wants to do,” Davis said. “With his work ethic and dedication, it won’t be long before he’s an executive chef of his own restaurant.”
“Once I finish school, I’m planning on transferring to CSUB. I want to be a manager of a hotel or a nice resort,” Tharp said. “With the current economy, we need to be flexible. I’d like to be a sous chef for a good restaurant. Executive chefs have too much paperwork and don’t get to cook much. People always ask, ‘Why do you limit yourself to sous chef?’ But that’s why.”
Tharp encourages BC students to stop by The Renegade Room and check out what the student chefs are cooking. Every aspect of the restaurant, from cooking to serving, is done by BC’s culinary students. It is open Tuesdays and Thursdays for dinner from 5:30-7:00 p.m. and Wednesdays for lunch from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. The menu is different every day.
“Everything is reasonably priced. I feel like it’s really good food coming out of here. It’s definitely better than the Del Taco dollar menu. Why not come here?”