Lion's Eye Favorite: Caramelized Onion and Bleu Cheese Tart, Anyone?

October 30, 2008

Boys in Wetherell Dining Hall give a thumbs-up to the new menus. "Today's was the best yet," they said.

Exeter is abuzz with talk about food. Last week, Dining Services launched new menus, full of international dishes and new flavors. Everyone is eating and enjoying. Here are a few of the comments sent to Dining Services:

"D-Hall today was amazing!"

"I loved the food 2 day. Love you guys so hard. Thanks!"

"My first-born is all yours."

"I love the new dishes the dining hall is providing," says Denzil, a senior. "I live in Ewald dormitory and it's come to the point that some of my friends have not ordered out later in the evening after dinner because they're so full. I hope the menu will stay like this for the rest of the year!"

Last week, diners had a tour of world cuisine. The week started off at the Taj Mahal with tandoori chicken and palak paneer. Tuesday, they traveled to the North African souk with mujadarra, falafel and Moroccan cous cous. Wednesday they headed north to la belle France with caramelized onion and bleu cheese tart, and Italia for garlic mussels and linguine. Thursday veered 5,000 miles eastward with miso soup, vegetarian egg rolls, Bao pork dumplings, lo mein with peanut sauce and teriyaki chicken wings. And that was just lunch! Superb offerings also appeared at dinnertime: ravioli with grilled pear and gorgonzola sauce, rosemary pesto-encrusted leg of lamb, seared scallops with cilantro pesto, broccoli with three-cheese crêpes, eggplant torte with goat cheese and tomatoes, and lots more. For students who love American fare, items such as clam chowder, BBQ steak tips and banana cream pie remain on the menu.

The new menus got their start last fall when Dining Services surveyed diners. Excellent ratings came in for quality, availability and service. Food overall got a 3.8, on a scale from 0 to 5 (highest). "We felt that the food rating just wasn't good enough," says Ward Ganger, Exeter's director of dining services. Armed with detailed feedback from the survey, Ganger and his entire leadership team met during spring break to brainstorm. "This was a very collaborative effort," explains Ganger. "Many creative ideas were proposed. We focused on taste, variety of menu choices, freshness, and healthiness," explains Ganger.

Ultimately, the dining services team decided to "blow open" the menus, virtually starting from scratch. "It was a big departure from the safe things we had been serving," says Ganger. "Not that there was anything wrong with what we were serving, but it was clear there was room for improvement. We wanted to seize that opportunity."

Ganger estimates it took 300 hours of work – discussion, recipe research, conversion to large quantities, testing – to develop 4 new menu cycles. Each season (fall, winter, spring, summer) will have its own 4-week menu cycle, which means that main dishes do not repeat on the serving line for a full month. Dining Services now cooks 132 new recipes. Also new are improved standards at the salad, pasta and deli bars.

"A few of the new recipes came from students and families, like the Korean beef," explains Melinda Leonard, Assistant Director of Dining Services, who manages the Recipes from Home program. Beyond that, it was basically a roll-up-your-sleeves operation. Executive Chef Patrick Brideau, Leonard and Ganger looked at cookbooks, Epicurious.com and other sources to locate interesting dishes, many from outside the United States.

The kitchens worked with experts to develop new cooking techniques. "It's so important to do the food authentically," explains Ganger. "We are working with Monsoon Kitchens. The owner, Swati Elavia, came to our kitchens to demonstrate. Kenny Tang worked with us on our sushi program, and is helping us source Asian goods." Dining Services also sources ingredients from Japan Food Corporation and Greek Island Spices.

Ganger and his staff are constantly on the lookout for new, exciting food. On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., Ganger got into a cab. When he discovered that the driver was Ethiopian, he started to explore. "What do you eat in Ethiopia?" Ganger asked. "Root vegetable stews, lamb," replied the driver. "Do you use a spice called berberi?" asked Ganger. The driver smiled delightedly, and an excited exchange of berberi-laden recipes ensued.

Interested in learning more?

Send in Recipes from Home…
Check out the daily menus…
Learn more about Dining Services…

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Lion's note: this article first appeared on October 1, 2008.