23 January 2026
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Service at 1856 - Culinary Residence plays out like the best of fine dining spots in the US, amid a double-height wine room, gossamer glassware and a tasting menu of Frenchified regional cuisine. And then there's the seminar’s worth of coeds helping to man the kitchen and floor.
Set on the campus of Auburn University in Alabama, 1856 - Culinary Residence is the training grounds for students in the college’s hospitality school, with eight 18- to 22-year-olds embedded in nearly every lunch and dinner shift.
This month, it became the first teaching restaurant in the country to earn a place in the MICHELIN Guide.
“For the students, it's an unbelievable experience,” said Hans van der Reijden, one of the restaurant’s founders.
Joël Antunes, a veteran French chef, is in charge, serving as the restaurant’s Chef in Residence. After running the kitchen at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok (Three MICHELIN Keys), earning a Star at London’s since-shuttered Les Saveurs, and opening an eponymous restaurant in Atlanta, working with college students posed a new challenge.
“At the beginning it was a bit difficult for me, because when you work fine dining, you have to push hard to make the quality perfect. But now, after one year here, I have a different vision, and I’ve learned something also myself,” Antunes said.
Students get their first turn in the restaurant in their sophomore year, helping with the à la carte lunch service. By their senior year – a bit more maturity under their belts – they’re promoted to dinner, rotating through positions in the kitchen and front of house.
That means hands-on instruction with an on-the-job sommelier, bartender and general manager, and around the kitchen with Antunes and his professional team.
“The most important thing is to give the basics of cooking, to make vegetables, and next week, maybe they learn to make a sauce and to plate also during the service,” Antunes said.
Students also have a hand in planning the menu – something they’re quizzed on each night before service.
The restaurant’s five and eight course tasting menus change every month, pulling seasonal products from purveyors around the South and the horticulture department’s nearby rooftop garden. Three weeks out from the update, Antunes calls the trainees into his office for their input.
On the current menu, asterisks denote the four dishes that students collaborated on, like a Wagyu short rib and a mushroom fricasé with a vichyssoise velouté.
“Sometimes they bring very good ideas,” he said. “But sometimes, you have to be careful. They like to mix sometimes cinnamon with scallops and wasabi with truffle. You have to say no, this cannot work.”
“It's very nice,” he added. “They're very young people and they want to learn something. It's very nice to work with these people.”
Fifteen Alabama restaurants earned spots in the MICHELIN Guide’s inaugural American South selection earlier this month, with a host of Bib Gourmands and Inspector-recommended spots from Birmingham to Mobile sharing the honor.
1856 - Culinary Residence is among the class’s most well-heeled, with savvy diners from across the south making the reservation their destination. Still, one of the restaurant's most prized constituencies is homegrown.
“I love it when students come in with their parents because they're proud of it. That’s a really big moment,” said van der Reijden.
Hero image: ©Craig Godwin/1856 Restaurant
