If 'Food is the Music of Love' (sorry, Will) We're Scheduled for a Symphony

According to the Internet, Benjamin Franklin once wrote that  “a house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.”  Whether those really are Franklin's words or those of a seventh grader who knows how to create a legit looking website, we have created a home within the Lackland Center.  The new Dining Room has many different foods for the body and does indeed have a fireplace at its center. Your presence will ensure the fire and food for the mind.

The new operation may be difficult to figure out when we first open.  Therefore, you are invited to roam through the serving areas and sample from many stations.  You are also invited to greet both friends who served you in the old building and all the Chefs and Cooks who worked behind closed kitchen doors when we were back in the Seay Building. 

Several practices have changed. You may find that Servers are more consistently plating for you than was our practice in the Seay Building.  This is not a drive for portion control but an attempt to serve you attractively presented food that you will enjoy eating. In pre-season, the response to Servers plating the food seemed to be neutral to slightly negative.  We invite your input.

Another change is the near death of the Steam Jacketed Kettle. (Never heard of it? Think 'three food long wooden spoons and lots of cackling.'). Occasionally something still gets cooked in the SJK (they're good for soups) but generally you will find that those newly liberated chefs are cooking smaller quantities right there in front of you.   

The descriptions that follow vaguely define the location of the area and the type of cooking possible in each space.  However, be ever vigilant for an old favorite being cooked in a new area or a novel presentation in an old space. 

My Pantry is the area behind the fireplace wall.  The purpose of the area will flow between self-serve, chef-assisted cooking and cooking as theatre.  The domestic sized refrigerator is stocked with silk milk, gluten free bread, apple sauce, ice pops and fruit.  Several kinds of cereal are out on the counter and either you or a chef will  cook on the induction cook-tops.  If a chef is doing demonstration cooking that meal, you’re invited to sit at the counter and watch.

Hearthstone is the area behind the wood-stone oven.   Pizza, casseroles, strombolis and other foods will be prepared there.  Although there probably will always be plain pizza, every other option will change from meal to meal.

Sensitivities is behind the wood-stone oven.  Different vegetarian and gluten free options  will be served there.  Remember when choosing that wheat free and meat free may rhyme but are quite different in their inner qualities.  The ingredients in each Sensitivities item will be carefully labeled.

The Grill (If you’ve got $50k and a name, we’d be glad to call it something different. See Debra Albanese with the check. ) is the area along the interior wall that has a broiler, fryers and a grill.  Hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, grilled chicken sandwiches and (oh my beating heart) chicken nuggets, will be found here whenever they’re served.

Baker’s Crust is not where baked goods will be found (desserts are everywhere) but where we serve things on good, fresh bread and rolls.  Deli meats and cheese and a featured pannini sandwich are featured there, but you may ask the chef to press anything that’s available there.  Within reason.

The Kitchen is the large operation in the corner nearest the dish room.  It will be where are served traditional meals such as roasted meats or entrees assembled from items cooked in different ways.  There are ovens, griddles, woks, grills and fryers behind that counter.

The Salad Bar is an island of health floating in the middle of the good tasting ocean of carbs and fats.  Although it appears to be smaller than the salad station in the formal dining room, it contains more items in a more efficient manner. 

With a pastry chef like ours, who doesn’t live for dessert?  Desserts are everywhere in the new dining room.  The only guarantee concerning dessert is that there will be so many choices at the serving stations that the menu on the website will not list them all!  Self-serve ice cream is against the long wall between the Kitchen and the Late Night Area.