In 1986, Courtyard Cafe Manager Cynthia Hart was at a food service trade show and noticed what has come to be known as "Hop Fries," and the love affair has never ended.
"When I saw them I just knew we had to have them," Hart said. "They were a hit from the start."
Hart and Director of Dining Services Tucker Rossiter said they regularly find new products and menu items at these trade shows as well as through trade publications and by looking at other colleges and restaurants.
"I had a turkey, apple and brie sandwich in a restaurant in Charleston [S.C.] and loved it," Hart said, describing how another popular Courtyard Cafe menu item emerged.
"We're always looking for the newest trends like deli wraps and smoothies," Rossiter said.
Rossiter said chefs and other employees also often bring in menu ideas.
Home Plate Chef Robin Jenks said he brought in the recipe for shrimp scampi, which was recently served as a dinner special in Food Court.
Collis Cafe Baker Mary Ann Milanese said she brings in most of the recipes for the unique baked goods served in Collis, but students and other employees occasionally tell her about new ideas.
"I do a lot of reading of magazines and cook books," Milanese said. "I try to bring in a new recipe every day."
"One day I heard a great recipe in the car on the way to work, and I had to remember it until I got here," Milanese said.
Milanese said the Cafe will sometimes even order unusual ingredients for her which she wants to try in a new baked good.
Jenks said new recipes often require adjustments and the chefs are free to make these changes.
"We're not given a recipe and told that's it -- you can't do anything with it," Jenks said.
Cooking for thousands
Rossiter said DDS owns a computer program which automatically converts recipe sizes so items can be made in different quantities.
However, Food Court Chef Guy DiFrancesco said it is sometimes difficult to make recipes designed for the size of a family suitable for the numbers Food Court demands.
Recipes "won't always transfer over when they go to a large scale," DiFrancesco said. "Some things will only work in a small saute pan, for example."
Food Court Manager Beth Jones said some menu items lose their popularity over time while others take their place.
"Hot dogs have declined ... but deli wraps are now [sold] two to one over bread," Jones said.
Rossiter said once-popular meat products, like meatloaf and beef stew, have declined in popularity since the mid '80s.
Rossiter and Jones said managers mostly decide which items are popular through comment cards and student spending habits.
Rossiter said he also solicits student opinions on menu items and other Dartmouth Dining Services issues through an ad-hoc committee on student dining which includes eight students.
Jones said there is little coordination regarding meal offerings between the different dining halls at the College.
"There is probably less than there should be," Jones said.
She said the dining halls compete for student business but do make some arrangements amongst themselves.
"Home Plate has signatured the garden burger ... so we try to be nice" and serve it only after Home Plate has closed, Jones said.
Jones said identical products are priced the same regardless of the dining hall in which they are being served.
Behind the scenes
All the dining halls share the same kitchen and salad preparation area, which are located between the serving areas and in the basement of Thayer. Jones said the chefs from each dining hall tend to work in the areas of the unseparated kitchen closest to their respective eatery, but the ovens and other appliances are shared by everyone.
Lettuce and other vegetables are chopped and prepared for use in the work areas located beneath the main floor of Thayer.
Food Court buys its vegetables whole and then slices them at Thayer in order to avoid waste. "There's only so much you can do with sliced mushrooms," Jones said.
The vegetables are stored in one of Thayer's eight walk-in refrigerators until they are ready to be used in one of the dining halls upstairs.
Jones said the Thayer dining halls use more than 100 pounds of peeled carrots every two days.
Food Court no longer prepares its baked goods from scratch but instead uses pre-prepared mixes and doughs, according to Jones.
While the chefs no longer need to mix their own dough, they still need to rise, mold and bake the items.
"It saves times and adds consistency," Jones said.
Courtyard Cafe purchases most of its menu items pre-prepared and frozen due to its limited storage space and desire for fast-food-like service, Hart said.
Even the pies and cakes are purchased frozen. Later they are slightly thawed, cut and then frozen again.
Collis Cafe makes all of its baked goods from scratch, usually the day they are sold, according to Milanese.
Most of the Food Court dishes are washed by machine and the food scraps left on students' plates are scraped into what Jones said the employees call the "mung bucket."
Currently this food waste is put into large garbage disposals, but Rossiter said the waste will be sent to the College's planned composting facility once it is fully operational.
Jones said Food Court leftovers are kept to a minimum by reheating and reserving food that is not purchased.
Hart said Courtyard Cafe has almost no leftovers, since many of its items are individual orders.
"We even use the unattractive tomato slices which would ordinarily be thrown away in our tomato pitas or marinara sauce," Hart said.
DiFrancesco said the leftovers used to be frozen and sent to The Haven, a homeless shelter in White River Junction.
Rossiter said DDS no longer donates its unsold food because of a lack of student interest and involvement in the project.
Some non-food products are also reused at DDS. Jones said that grease from the fryers at Food Court is saved and picked up by a company which uses it to make soap.
Where's the beef?
Assistant Director of Dining Services Jerry Gambell, who purchases the meat for DDS, said he tries to get the best possible price for quality products.
"I get list prices twice a week ... and take bids from six or seven companies," Gambell said.
Gambell said he purchases mainly "choice" or "no-roll" beef. Products are given the designation "no-roll" when the meat company's grader and producer can not agree on which grade it should receive.
"We're not the Hanover Inn, so we don't want the best things, but we don't want the worst either," Gambell said.
Jones said the meat products served in DDS establishments tend to be of higher quality than those purchased by most families.
Gambell said any non-patty hamburger meat is ground at the College by DDS workers and periodic testing ensures the ground meat is 90 percent lean for Home Plate and 80-85 percent lean for the other operations.
He said pre-ground beef purchased for hamburger patties is 80 percent lean.
The meat is stored in large, walk-in meat freezers until it is ready to be cut in the butcher room, located in the Thayer basement.
Jones said this butcher room is washed with bleach and is the cleanest area of Thayer.
Gambell said DDS uses 50,000 pounds of chicken breasts every year.
Special nights and special requests
On rare occasions the dining halls are transformed with streamers or clowns or ice sculptures into the French Quarter or a circus tent.
These are special nights which Rossiter said each establishment tries to offer at least once a term.
"They are monotony breakers," Rossiter said, adding they also increase sales. "The island nights each term at Westside are always big successes."
Recent examples also include Mardi Gras night at Food court and circus night at the Courtyard Cafe.
Food Court served unusual food for its Mardi Gras celebration, including crawfish and alligator. Courtyard Cafe employees dressed as clowns and sold peanuts and cotton candy for its circus night.
Hart said the Courtyard Cafe has special nights about twice a term in response to requests by the Hopkins Center and the Hood Museum for themed food which correlates with their special events.
Other items and programs are also designed to meet student needs and desires.
Rossiter said vegetarian meals are offered at every location at every meal, but added, "they may not always be the main entree."
Vegetarian student Elizabeth Casteen '01 said, "It actually gets kind of boring. There's not much [vegetarian food] to eat."
Casteen said she usually eats either salad, a stir fry or a sandwich.
Kosher sandwiches and frozen dinners are also available at Food Court.
Students can call ahead and have the pre-packaged frozen kosher meals heated for them when they arrive or take them home and microwave them themselves.
While signs above the Food Court grill warn customers that special requests cannot always be honored, Hart said student requests are always accepted in the Courtyard Cafe line.
"We get special requests all the time," Hart said. "We're not McDonald's. Anyway you want it we'll try it."
Hart also said the Cafe staff occasionally needs to accommodate unusually large orders.
Hart said once every term members of a fraternity come in and order large volumes of breakfast sandwiches.
"The same guys just keep coming back to see who can eat the most breakfast sandwiches," Courtyard Cafe worker Diane Spaulding said.
Hart estimated they prepare three times as many breakfast sandwiches on these days compared to normal days.
Because of the many menu items and accommodations of the dining halls' staff, Rossiter said only two students are currently exempt from the College's dining plan requirement for health reasons, and those are for extreme allergenic cases.
