Dining Services introduced 40 new dishes this semester, following an increase in Chef’s Feature sales over the past couple of years.
Meals ranging from guava pork sliders with sesame ginger Asian slaw and sweet potato fries to cheddar corn bread-crusted wild blue catfish with basmati rice are now on rotation at the campus dining halls.
Sales of the Chef’s Feature dishes, commonly known as value meals, have doubled in the past two years, Dining Services spokesman Bart Hipple said.
Dining Services Senior Executive Chef John Gray attributed the spike in Chef’s Feature purchases to the summer 2013 switch to all fresh vegetables — with the exception of corn, which is difficult to procure out of season. To preserve freshness, chefs prepare the food throughout the day according to demand, rather than cooking it all at once and storing it.
Combined, the South Campus and North Campus dining halls serve about 1,000 Chef’s Feature meals per night, Gray said.
Gray, who has been the university’s executive chef for the past five years, brought in nine new chefs to improve food quality. He collaborates with those chefs to make food students want to eat.
“The quality of food was OK, but they hired me to make sure it was awesome,” Gray said. “So we’re getting there.”
Two summers ago, Gray began hosting “boot camps” to sharpen the chefs’ cooking and knife skills. This summer’s culinary camp focused on testing and developing the 40 new dishes Gray compiled.
“The last year and a half, [Gray] has focused on increasing the culinary skills of our chefs — working together as a team to broaden the spectrum of flavors we serve,” Hipple said.
When whipping up new Dining Services recipes, Gray said, he turns to food industry magazines to discover new and existing trends.
But he also tracks student dining trends to see what students like to eat. Each morning, Gray receives a report of which meals students are buying.
“Some people like to make food that’s very impressive or way out there on the edge or looks a certain way,” Hipple said. “[Gray] likes to make food that the guests here will eat.”
Gray said he likes to test new foods in the buffets at 251 North, then bring successful dishes into the North and South Campus dining halls.
Junior psychology major Joe Gallucci said variety in the dining halls is lacking, and he bought a smaller meal plan this semester so he could eat more meals off the campus.
“My opinion of [the dining halls] has gone down since I’ve been here,” Gallucci said. “I think freshman year I was blinded to their inadequacies.”
Wes Baire, a senior mechanical engineering major, said he doesn’t like the long lines at the dining halls and he sees room for improvement, but he doesn’t have any complaints about food quality.
“Overall, the food is good,” Baire said. “I’m not complaining. Generally, I get a well-rounded meal.”
Gray said he takes all feedback into consideration. One request he had been getting for years was to extend the hours of the labor-intensive Seasons 12 stir-fry station in South Campus Dining Hall. With the opening of Prince Frederick Hall this semester, he said, the demand was there, and now the station is open for dinner.
Junior computer engineering major Paula Huang said she did a “virtual happy dance” when she first learned of the station’s extended hours. She said the stir-fry station adds some much-needed variety to her meals.
In addition to the stir-fry station’s modified hours, all dinner stations now close at 8 p.m. to minimize confusion, Hipple said, replacing staggered closing times between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Gray said he is always thinking of ways to improve the dining halls. He has been receiving requests for better vegan options in South Campus Dining Hall and plans to introduce a station like Sprouts, North Campus Dining Hall’s vegan station, next summer.
