Central Vermont Medical Center recently hired Montpelier resident Justin Turcotte as Executive Chef. Justin graduated from U-32 high school and earned his associates degree at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and St. Helena, California.
“Chef Justin has created new healthy menu items for staff and patients. Everyone is raving about his salads – Beluga lentil, curried wheat berries, wild rice and bulgur, and asparagus couscous are already favorites, stated Judy Tartaglia, CVMC president and CEO. “He is reinvigorating kitchen personnel, building on training he provided in 2010 when he was a New England Culinary Institute (NECI) instructor, which resulted in 10 proud CVMC staff members earning certificates through the NECI certificate program.”
Justin has 22 years of food service background. His professional experience includes work as sous chef at HF Dude Ranch in Saddle StringWyoming, Garde Manger at Chez Panisse in Berkley, California, and three years at San Francisco’s high profile, premiere catering company, Taste Catering. After that he spent three years as a free agent and consultant in the catering field in the San Francisco Bay Area coordinating events for a wide range of catering companies. He moved on to be special events coordinator at Madalena’s & Café Fino in Palo Alto.
He returned to Vermont as General Manger of All Fired Up Billiards and Bistro in Barre. His most recent position in Vermont was as an instructor at New England Culinary Institute (NECI) in Montpelier.
“I am very happy to be here at CVMC. I got a chance to meet the kitchen staff when I was conducting the NECI certificate class here in 2010. One thing that was especially exciting was the enthusiasm within the Nutrition and Food Services Department to resume cooking from scratch again” said Chef Justin. “These are professional cooks and food service workers who love making great tasting, healthy food. We are very fortunate to have a department head and administrative team that sees food as an integral component of wellness. High quality food is a benefit for our patients and staff alike.”
“We are getting some great lettuce and spinach from Central Vermont Food Hub and Pete’s Greens. Chefs have been sourcing food locally for years in restaurants and now the vendors have grown to be able accommodate the volume of corporate dining,” continued Turcotte. “Two Rivers has added a real-time online farmers market. This is incredibly helpful to facilitate incorporating local organic food when feeding 1200 people per day. ”
“Now we are looking towards our summer menus to feature more salads and picnic boxes to get people eating outside in the sunshine,” he concluded.
Chef Justin lives in Montpelier with his wife Michele Turcotte a primary teacher at Berlin Elementary School and Children Anika, age 6 and Nicholas age 4.
