In the Bay Area, there are many places to take top-notch culinary classes, both hands-on and demonstration ones.

But at The Key Room in Novato, while you learn how to make dashi, handmade pasta, or what goes into crafting Kansas City-style barbecue from acclaimed chef Darryl Bell of Napa’s Stateline Road Smokehouse, you’re also supporting a culinary job-training program that teaches skills to troubled youths, veterans, and the homeless.

Founded in 2008, the Key Room is an extension of Homeward Bound of Marin, which has been the primary provider for resources and shelters for homeless individuals and families in Marin County since 1974.

Since the culinary program was founded, more than 1,000 people have gone through it, says Paul Fordham, CEO of Homeward Bound of Marin. Five instructor chefs, two who hail from the Culinary Institute of America, teach 70 students each year in a free, 11-week training program. Half of those who graduate go on to get jobs in the hospitality industry, and the other half end up working at The Key Room in kitchen or front-of-house positions.

Each month, those Key Room graduates get even more experience at a featured guest chef event open to the public. Additionally, every month, three hands-on cooking classes are offered to the public that are held in a spiffy 15-person teaching kitchen.

On top of that, Key Room staff prepare 15,000 meals per month for Homeward Bound shelters, cooking up everything from chile rellenos with Spanish rice to meatloaf with potato wedges and broccoli.

Some of the produce used in these dishes is harvested from the vegetable garden on-site that’s planted with 35 rows of crops. Seeds were donated by Petaluma Seed Bank; and fish carcasses for fertilizer from Hog Island Oyster Co.

Staff also get experience from providing services for corporate events or birthdays or other celebrations held in the Key Room’s event spaces.

In 2017, the organization even started Wagster, a business that makes gourmet dog treats that are now sold in 200 stores.

If that weren’t enough, the former military base also includes on its grounds an 80-bed homeless shelter plus 80 units of housing for veterans, families and the formerly unhoused.

All in all, it’s an impressive operation.

I had a chance to check it out a couple weeks ago when I was invited as a guest to February’s guest chef demo and dinner featuring rock star Bay Area butcher Dave Budworth (aka Dave the Butcher).

It takes $3 million annually to fund the culinary program. Forty percent comes from government grants and donations; the rest is generated by events like this with a $100 per-person ticket price. Bank of America underwrites the food costs for these events.

What does that ticket get you? In this instance, one very delicious and entertaining evening.

Budworth, who is a cousin of Fordham’s, has been volunteering at The Key Room for 18 years. On this evening, armed with a hacksaw and his great-grandfather’s circa 1856 knife, he demonstrated how to break down a lamb into both recognizable cuts and other less-known ones. (See video.)

All the while, he regaled with tales of his great-grandfather traveling by ship from Alsace to San Francisco, where he opened up a butcher shop. He talked about his favorite lamb cut: the neck because it has a lot of intramuscular fat. And what he thinks about boneless meat:

“Everything should be bone-in — except hamburgers,” he quipped. “Because bone-in conducts heat and adds flavor.”

At the end of the demo, the various cuts were neatly wrapped and raffled off.

The menu for the evening was lamb-focused, of course. Matt Shapiro, The Key Room’s director of training and culinary operations, demonstrated how meat from the lamb neck was turned into bacon that starred in his shaved & roasted Brussels sprouts Lyonnaise salad.

Next, he made slits into a leg of lamb and inserted cloves of garlic and anchovies, before smearing the whole thing with a mixture of butter and more anchovies, and sliding it into the oven to cook. (See video.)

As he talked, Key Room servers set down plates in unison in front of guests at the round tables of 10.

The salad was crunchy from both raw and cooked Brussels sprouts, nicely sharp from vinegar and Dijon mustard, and deeply flavorful from the rich tasting lamb bacon.

Slices of the roast leg of lamb were so tender, with the anchovy and garlic accentuating its deep meatiness. Saffron mashed rutabaga with its earthy, turnip taste was a nice change from the usual mashed potatoes. Perfectly tender-crunchy broccolini completed the dish.

For dessert, there was fluffy pistachio chiffon cake layered with lemon curd and topped with torched meringue.

You get the recipes to take home, too, along with the good feeling of helping a worthy community organization.