Catarina Murphy
cmurphy @foghornnews.com
Del Mar College Restaurant Management provides an affordable lunch menu open to Del Mar students and the general public.
Culinary students will prepare lunches as part of their hands-on training every Wednesday this semester. The meals are meant to give the culinary students a more real-world view of the culinary industry.
Even though the culinary department pays regular retail price sfrom vendors for the ingredients, they are offering the meals at a discount.
“There is rotation training,” said culinary instructor Israel Villanueva. “One time they will be the pastry chef and next time restaurant manager. There is nowhere else but here that they can get to feed up to 100 people.”
The students are graded on their individual and team effort, and the class has an after-action review to ask questions such as “What was accomplished today?” and “What can we do better next time?”
Lynne McDonald, a culinary student, prepared the steamed rice for the lunch, and said she is living her childhood dream.
“The teacher is very good,” McDonald said. “I am from the Caribbean so when I am manager I want to do Caribbean-style food.”
The menu choice will change every week according to the student manager’s preference.
The first lunch offered the entrée choices of chicken marsala and mesquite-grilled pork tenderloin with peppercorn sauce at just $2.25. Adding any side was 90 cents, desserts were a $1, and a salad bar was available for $3.
Lunch will be served at the Restaurant Management Building on West Campus from 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. every Wednesday. The department is currently unable to process debit or credit cards so they are only accepting cash or check.
For more information, contact Villanueva at 698-2809 or ivillanueva@delmar.edu.