At the same time the movie Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle became a cult classic, the tiny burgers that fueled the title characters’ munchie madness blasted onto the culinary scene.
But Harold and Kumar’s burger fixation has apparently not caught on at The Diner, which only sells about six to seven slider trio meals a day, compared to the 600 to 700 burgers ordered on a typical weekday.
“During March Madness last year, we just couldn’t serve the sliders fast enough,” Senior Executive Chef John Gray said. “So when we put them on the gourmet burger menu, we thought they would be a huge hit — it turned out the opposite happened.”
The gourmet burgers and sliders joined the diner menu at the beginning of the semester when they took over the Global Gourmet section. Now, Gray is working to develop three to four different types of sliders to go on the menu for the spring semester.
“A main reason that the sliders aren’t selling may be that they don’t have toppings,” Gray said. “So we’re going to upgrade them and see what happens, but I’m sure sales will go up once we upgrade them.”
The new slider dishes, which will have unique toppings, are inspired by popular culinary trends, including the incorporation of Southwestern and Cajun flavors.
“We’ll still have the regular cheese, but I’m working on a roasted red pepper and guacamole trio, one with blue cheese and French onions, and another one with fried jalapeños, barbecue sauce and provolone cheese,” Gray said.
While many students have not tried the sliders because they prefer their burgers with toppings, others buy burgers because they are a better value. A standard four-ounce hamburger costs $2.89, but the slider trio includes about five ounces of meat with no toppings for $4.89.
“I don’t order sliders because you get less food per dollar when compared with the standard hamburgers,” freshman materials science and engineering major Owen McGovern said.
And for hungry college students, the more food for less money, the better, McGovern said.
“I’ve never had sliders in my life, but this guy I know had them, and he said that the serving size just wasn’t satisfying enough,” McGovern said. “With the burgers, you can buy two, and it’s socially acceptable. With the sliders, you feel like a pig if you order two because you’re going to be eating six individual burgers.”
Other students have never tried sliders and don’t intend to drift away from the classic burgers.
“I’m not much of a slider eater,” freshman music major Ben Hofmann said. “They just don’t serve them around my hometown.”
With the upgrade, dining services is also looking to make its burger service faster.
“One problem with the sliders was self-sustaining: We wouldn’t start any on the grill because no one was ordering them,” Dining Services spokesman Bart Hipple said. “So when people order them, they have to wait a few minutes longer to get their order.”
hemmati at umdbk dot com
