Chef Curtis is the Basic Food Prep and Culinary Class teacher at Hampton Bays High School. Chef Curtis grew up in Hampton Bays and attended school here. In high school he played baseball, wrestling, and golf; he admits he wasn’t the best but he did have a lot of school spirit. He considered himself a good kid in school but he does admit that his science teacher wouldn’t agree. “I will say after just two weeks of teaching, it’s really humbled me and I’d like to apologize to any teacher I gave a hard time to.”

Chef Curtis is very passionate about teaching kids about the culinary arts and how many careers you can have in the food industry. He doesn’t just enjoy cooking, but he believes that cooking can be an expression of love, like being the first one up and getting breakfast started for everyone. 

Chef Cutis became interested in cooking because his mom and uncle were big cooks and family dinners were a big deal in his household. His mother put a lot of effort into cooking which he always appreciated. His uncle worked at The Hampton Maid for about 20 years and was another inspiration for him. As a kid Chef Curtis was a picky eater but at around the age of 12 he started to get a little more creative. He took notice of actual good food instead of sticking to chicken fingers; don’t get him wrong though, he can still point out where you can get the best chicken fingers in the area. 

Chef Curtis is a big fan of thinking outside of the box and pushing limits and made a lot of interesting food in college like carrot mushroom and Béarnaise sauce ice cream which is a steak butter sauce made into ice cream whic

h he describes as very savory. Although he loves all different kinds of food, his least favorite food has to be eel. As a teacher he has two goals for each of his classes he teaches. In his Basic Food Prep class his goal is to get students comfortable in the kitchen but in his Culinary class the goal is to help students get hired in the hospitality field.