The odor of barbecue wafted through the sunny demonstration studio of Evanston’s Now We’re Cookin’ Culinary Service Center. At the counter, a caterer for the 3,000 NBC broadcasters covering the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics was whipping up a bowl of bison chili.

Fifteen teams of Northwestern students will take his place Saturday.

Now We’re Cookin’, a culinary center with rentable commercial kitchens, offers cooking space to chefs who may not have their own. It will host Dance Marathon’s Top Chef cooking competition this weekend for the third year in a row.

Nell Funk, the owner of Now We’re Cookin’, which opened in 2007 at 1601 Payne St., called the center ‘a rent-an-office model for chefs.’

‘We have a lot of people who come in who are truly turning something they’ve done in their own kitchen for years into a business,’ she said.

One of the businesses currently operating out of Now We’re Cookin’ is a sauce company starting a new line of products, Funk said. The center is also popular with seasonal chefs, including Christmas cookie makers, she said.

NBC caterer David Danielson was at Now We’re Cookin’ Thursday filming a show on what the reporters at the Olympics will be eating. His meal was Canadian-themed: Along with bison chili, he made salmon sliders and beavertail pastries drizzled with bourbon maple syrup. He said he was excited to be working at Now We’re Cookin’.

‘I came here about six months ago to look at the space, and I’ve been waiting to get back here and trying to find something we can do,’ said Danielson, who is also the executive chef of Behind the Scenes Catering and Events.

Danielson has worked in rental kitchens all over the world, from Sydney to Beijing, he said. Now We’re Cookin’ compares favorably, he said.

In addition to providing facilities for chefs like Danielson, Now We’re Cookin’ offers classes and hosts parties and corporate retreats, Funk said. This month, it’s hosting a New Orleans-themed date night where couples will cook beignets and jambalaya.

‘We have a lot of dishes that we know work,’ she said. ‘We tend to focus on them.’

But Funk’s primary focus is helping small businesses grow, she said. The center provides local food entrepreneurs with a place to cross paths as well as access to professional-quality equipment, she said.

‘What’s most gratifying is to see the synergies that develop between the businesses where they share staff,’ she said. ‘There’s a lot of learning and cross-education.’

Bennett Weisse, co-head of the food committee for DM, has been to Now We’re Cookin’ for DM’s past student cook-offs and said the space is great for events like Top Chef.

‘You feel like you’re right up there with the judges, but it’s not so small that you don’t feel like you have space to move around,’ the Communication senior said.

Without Now We’re Cookin’, Weisse said Top Chef might not exist.

‘They’ve been very, very generous to DM,’ she said.

Funk said the good feelings are mutual.

‘It’s our favorite event of the year,’ she said. [email protected]