It’s the calm before the storm at bistro proVare on this particular Wednesday as award winning chef Jason Bierley conducts the final taste test of the lunch menu, giving nods of approval to students honing their culinary chops. They smile at the go-ahead.

The bistro, a “classroom cafe” tucked inside the Health Sciences Building at Jefferson State Community College’s Hoover-Shelby Campus, is where culinary students apply the skills they have learned in the classroom to the kitchen, much to the delight of faculty, students and other diners who are in the know about the bistro’s gourmet dishes and desserts.

To read more about bistro proVare, check out the April 2014 issue of Hoover’s Magazine. Find your copy here.