The Chef2Chef website lists the following institutions as the top five programs in the US: The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park New York The Texas Culinary Academy in Austin Texas Johnson & Wates University in Charleston, South Carolina Sullivan University in Louisville Kentucky New England Culinary Institute in Montpellier Vermont Many schools are associated with the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu. If that is what you are looking for, Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Atlanta or Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Las Vegas, or the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Program at Minneapolis/St Paul might be for you. Programs such as those offered at California School of Culinary Arts and Orlando Culinary Academy include externships that put students into real-life restaurant environments, providing opportunities to gain practical know-how and make valuable contacts within the industry. If the management side of the industry is better suited to your strengths, restaurant management and hospitality degree programs at Pennsylvania Culinary Institute or Scottsdale Culinary Institute can provide the relevant knowledge to develop your business acumen. Alternatively, Western Culinary Institute offers an Associate of Occupational Studies in Le Cordon Bleu Hospitality & Restaurant Management, and California School of Culinary Arts offers a Hospitality and Restaurant Management diploma program. Reference Link: http://www.shgresources.com/colleges/culinary-schools/

Whatever you do, do not go to any U.S. Le Cordon Bleu school. They've been exposed as a scam that hands out phony degrees after putting their students under a mountain of debt. Google SF Weekly and "Burnt Chefs" if you need to see proof. Just about any school that advertises on daytime TV is a fraud. Do you want to be making $1200 a month student loan payments for a degree that is not marketable? I worked for a chef that would toss applications that had that degree on the resume into the trash.