It has been 20 years since chef Loretta Paganini broke ground on her International Culinary Arts and Science Institute (ICASI) in Chesterland—arising out of the Loretta Paganini School of Cooking to provide advanced professional culinary training for students interested in meeting the increased demand for qualified foodservice industry professionals in Northeast Ohio.

The scholarship opportunities for aspiring foodservice professionals continue to flow, thanks to Paganini’s annual Cleveland’s Top Chefs: A Premier Culinary Experience ICASI fundraiser, this Sunday, Aug. 25, at the Chesterland institute. Money raised at the event helps fund culinary scholarships to ICASI for training future professional chefs.

The event will have a bourbon tasting, in addition to beer and wine, live music, and a raffle that includes a trip for two to Italy’s wine regions with Paganini, among other prizes. Current ICASI students will assist the 30 culinary experts who have volunteered their time and skills at the event.

International Culinary Arts & Sciences InstituteA lifetime of cooking

Paganini grew up in Bologna, Italy, where foodservice ran in through her family’s veins. “In Italy, when your parents own a business, guess what? After school, you are in that business,” Paganini explains. “So I grew up in a professional kitchen all my life.”

When she moved to New York in 1972 with her husband, Emil, who was training as a nephrologist, Paganini taught cooking classes to the other doctors’ wives.

After seven years in New York, the two moved to Cleveland and Paganini was periodically asked to instruct classes for cooking enthusiasts. However, her students wanted more than just a class here and there. So, 10 years after arriving in Cleveland, in 1989 Paganini opened the Loretta Paganini School of Cooking in an old Chesterland house.

Eventually, Paganini began teaching culinary classes for Lakeland Community College in a Little Italy church. “The priests came down to help do the dishes in exchange for leftovers,” she recalls, “so it was a good deal.”

Lakeland later asked Paganini to develop a professional program and ICASI was born—which “had about 12 students a year,” she recalls. By 2004 ICASI had its own building on the Chesterland campus, was registered with the state of Ohio, and became the first privately owned professional culinary school in the state.

Hands-on learning

Five years ago, ICASI received an Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training (ACCET) accreditation, which means its curriculum has undergone strict review.

“I feel blessed that I was given this opportunity,” Paganini says, reflecting on opening Loretta Paganini School of Cooking and ICASI. “The school continues to grow.”

ICASI studentsMore than 700 students from around the country have completed their training and graduated in the 20 years since ICASI opened. Events like Cleveland’s Top Chefs help secure brighter futures for the institute’s students.

“We have expanded [the event] big time from last year,” Paganini says, adding that ICASI added a mixologist who will offer three cocktails—two alcoholic and one non-alcoholic. Paganini says there will also be chefs, pastry chefs, caterers, chocolatiers, wine experts, and bourbon experts attending.

Last year’s event was such a hit that the chefs requested Cleveland’s Top Chefs take place again this year, despite the fact the event usually is held every other year.

“This year, a lot of chefs actually called us to be part of it, and I love that,” says Paganini. With enthusiastic participants, students, and attendees, she says she hopes to match or surpass the $75,000 they raised last year.

Local celebrity chefs will be volunteering their time and creating tasting plates to raise money for ICASI’s scholarship fund. Participating local chefs include Dante Boccuzzi, owner of the Dante Dining Group of restaurants; Kristen Barnes, co-owner of Sweet Bean in Collinwood; Jeremy Umansky, chef and owner of Larder in Ohio City; and Vinnie Cimino, operating partner and executive chef of Cordelia in downtown Cleveland, who was a 2024 James Beard Awards finalist in the Best Chef: Great Lakes category.

“We believe in the future of our industry and supporting those in our community doing good work,” Cimino says.

About 20 students receive ICASI scholarships each year, which are based on financial need. This semester, the institute will welcome five scholarship recipients. The institute relies on its events and donations from the public to fund its scholarships. The nonprofit ICASI Scholarship Fund is run entirely by volunteers and relies on fundraising events and donations.

“The students that come to us pay their own way,” says Paganini. “That’s why the scholarship fund is so important. They’re there because they want to be there.”

Bright futures

Alex Murza, a refugee who was a lawyer in his native Ukraine, wanted to learn a new skill set when he came to Cleveland in August 2022. Murza enrolled at ICASI in January 2023 on a partial scholarship that he earned during last year’s Top Chef event, during which students are paired with local chefs to assist in cooking and assembling plates.

Murza was paired with Chef Matt Mytro, co-owner of Flour in Moreland Hills.

Flour Chef Mytro with Alex Murza“We hit it off,” says Mytro, who hired Murza on the spot after witnessing Murza’s work ethic.

In fact, Mytro has hired many ICASI students and graduates. The director of sales and marketing for Flour and Flour Pasta Co., Ryan “Mick” McLean, attended the institute from 2008 to 2010, receiving an associate of technical studies degree in culinary arts.

McLean served as Flour’s bartender from 2011 to 2020, then returned to the restaurant in 2022 to work in food manufacturing with Flour Pasta Company. Prior to attending ICASI, McLean earned a B.S.B.A. in business administration and marketing from John Carroll University.

Mytro says he is able to offer students a unique experience with the two Flour companies. “If students ever want to work here, what we’re doing with Flour Pasta Co. is different,” he explains. “Typically, [a restaurant’s] next move is to open another restaurant, so they’re getting a different side of the industry with food manufacturing.”

Murza worked for Flour for just under a year, but because he lives an hour away from Moreland Hills, he ultimately found a job closer to home to finish his externship—a part of the culinary arts advanced program’s requirement to work 200 hours in professional kitchens under a chef’s guidance.

ICASI curricula range from six-month certificate programs to two-year culinary to associate degrees in partnership with Lakeland Community College. The programs can cost between $11,400 and $26,000.

Ben Hsu, former executive chef of Sushi 86, says he appreciated the breadth of the two-year program.

“[ICASI] focuses on the basics at the beginning and then goes into different cultures and styles of food,” he says, referencing the advanced techniques classes that build upon the basic techniques offered in certificate program.

Hsu was Sushi 86’s executive chef until just under two years ago. “COVID finally caught up [and] it got to the point where I had to terminate the employees to maintain my salary, or I had to leave,” he explains. “So I chose to leave.” He adds that his departure allowed the remaining staff to keep their jobs.

Hsu now works in finance, but he says still loves cooking at home and values his ICASI training. “I still reference my class binders for information,” he says, adding that he hopes to work as a chef again.

Paganini says she often connects with her former students, such as Hsu.

“The students always keep in touch and tell us what they’re doing and if they need help finding a job,” she says. “We have more jobs than we have students, so it’s a happy problem. The nicest thing is that we get a lot of respect [for our graduates] because they're very well trained and dedicated.”

Cleveland’s Top Chefs is this Sunday, Aug. 25, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the ICASI, 8700 Mayfield Road Chesterland, 44026. Tickets are $150 per person, with $90 being tax deductible.