At Bistro 489, Medford’s student chefs run the kitchen

By Sangmin Song

The aroma of coffee and fresh bread fills Bistro 489 as high school students brew, cook, and serve meals for diners. Guided by three culinary arts instructors, they rotate through kitchen stations, take orders, and plate dishes to keep the student-run restaurant moving through the morning rush.

Bistro 489, the student-run restaurant inside Medford Vocational Technical High School, reopened to the public this month after the summer break. Run by high school chefs under professional supervision, it offers affordable meals — from breakfast sandwiches to daily entrees and coffee for just a few dollars — to anyone in the community.

“We’re looking just to cover our cost," said chef instructor Ethan Pearlstein. "All of the money that we make goes right back into our program."

Tips, Pearlstein said, are used for the benefit of all students.

"I put them in a pool and at the end of school year, we do something very nice for our students,” he said.

Medford residents Yuri Paredes and Gloria Palacios, both in their 50s, were among the first customers to return.

“We came during the open house last year, that’s when we first learned about the bistro," Paredes said. "Ever since, we were trying to stop by and just grab a bite. I like the environment, it’s big delight.”

Bistro 489 has been part of the school since the fall of 2017. Pearlstein, who has led the culinary arts program for the past five years, has watched it grow from a small shop into one that now fills its dining room most days. When he arrived, the program had only a handful of students, but now the demand is high.

“I took the program [and] really started to revamp it, just trying to reinvent the wheel, trying to figure out this beautiful space,” he said.

Now, there is a wait list for students to get into the program, he said.

Students at Bistro 489 rotate among roles in the bakery, table service, and kitchen, learning what Pearlstein calls “basic industry-related things.” The hands-on structure gives them exposure to every part of a working restaurant, from prepping ingredients to serving customers.

“[Students] go on to higher education in culinary or something else, or they’ll go into the industry and get a job,” Pearlstein said. “My main goal is to make sure that they’re ready to go, that they’re successful and that they know what to expect.”

The bistro opened a few weeks after the school year began, as the first month of the semester is dedicated to reviewing safety inspections and retraining. Pearlstein said the restaurant has received steady, positive feedback from customers since reopening.

“We’re not always perfect, but the students do a really good job and we get a lot of awesome positive feedback [which] I think is just great,” he said. “Hospitality is our important goal, and also consistency.”

Another chef instructor, Vanessa Still, joined the culinary arts program this September after spending seven years as executive chef at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem. She said she wanted a change of pace and found teaching to be a rewarding next step.

“It’s really cool to see them, from freshmen not knowing much to becoming seniors where they [eventually run] the restaurant themselves,” she said. “The information that we give [students] really does stick and they run with it, and they make it their own, all the way from greeting tables to have the food dropped off.”

Among the students in the program is junior Kaia Tramble, who said she was drawn to the culinary arts because she has always loved cooking and wanted to turn that interest into something she could study.

“[The program] helped me to realize what I wanted to do, or what I think I want to do later in life,” she said. “I think the experience it gives you opens a lot of doors for a bunch of other programs or job opportunities, and they set you up really good for after you graduate.”

Pearlstein said he hopes more residents visit the bistro as word spreads and students gain confidence in the kitchen. He added the restaurant is not only a classroom, but also a way for the community to connect with Medford High’s culinary program.

“I want everybody in Medford to come and see what we do here in this vocational shop [and] I want them to enjoy food,” he said. “Food is love, food brings people together…and I just want everybody from Medford to come enjoy and see what we’re all about. I’m really excited to have everybody, and we welcome everybody here with open arms.”

Sangmin Song is a senior journalism student. This story is part of a partnership between Gotta Know Medford and the Boston University Department of Journalism.