Cocinar con Gusto with Guest Chef Marcos Sanchez
The Latino/a Student Cultural Center and Northeastern Dining welcomed Chef of Tres Gatos, Marcos Sanchez, to the Xhibition Kitchen. Tres Gatos is the first full-service restaurant/ book and music store in Boston. The audience learned more about Chef Sanchez, Latino recipes and his cooking styles. Chef Sanchez dished up some delicious Fideua de camarones (Shrimp Noodles). Two lucky students in the room won gift certificates to Tres Gatos.
Lobstah Night
For the first time ever Northeastern Dining brought “Lobstah Night” to campus on Tuesday, March 25, 2014. More than 1,000 students gathered in the line at Stetson West Eatery, which led out the door, around the corner, and up to the next block, just to be the first to get inside. As students entered the dining room, they were presented with “Keep Calm and Lobstah On” t-shirts. With a high demand for seating, students began to have a “family meal” by sharing tables with students they didn’t know or even standing around our Xhibition Kitchen counter!
Armed with lobster crackers, forks, bibs and “LOBSTAH NIGHT 101: HOW TO EAT A LOBSTER” instructions, our Hungry Huskies tore through whole, shelled lobsters. Students showed us their success throughout the event via our Twitter and Instagram pages using the #LobstahNightNU hashtag.
Northeastern Dining paired the lobsters on the menu with a little taste of Boston, including Cod Cakes, Boston Baked Beans, Twice Baked Potatoes, Lobster Bisque, Pesto Tortellini, Roasted Corn on the Cob, Roasted Potato Salad, and Boston Cream Pie – just to name a few!
Our first Lobstah Night was a phenomenal success and a great time was had by all who attended!
The New England Diner Cookbook by Mike Urban
Xhibition Kitchen Alumna Mike Urban returned to campus with his new cookbook "The New England Diner Cookbook". Mike Urban is an editor, writer, and book packager who specializes in travel, outdoor recreation, sports, food, and business/career books. Since the last time Urban visited the XK in October 2012, with his cookbook “Lobster Shacks”, he has gained many new experiences and stories which he gladly shared with the audience. Foodie Friends braved the cold windy weather to warm up with some delicious American Chop Suey, who’s recipe originated from Agawam Diner in Rowley, MA. Urban took the audience through a brief tour of some of New England’s best diners; his mouthwatering tales left the audience begging for more. Ten lucky audience members won a signed copy of his cookbook "The New England Diner Cookbook".
Teeny's Tour of Pie by Teeny Lamothe
Lead by pie connoisseur Teeny Lamothe, "Eat pie. Be happy. Eat more pie" was the motto for the last Xhibition Kitchen event of the semester. Teeny flew in from Washington, D.C., where she runs her wholesale and custom pie-baking business, Teeny Pies, to heat up the XK with her bright smile, warm personality and delicious pies. Not only does Teeny own her own pie business but she has written about pie for—and been featured in—the Huffington Post, Relish, CakeSpy, Refinery29, The Kitchn, you could say she is a pie expert. Teeny demonstrated how to make pie dough, roll it out and turn it into a Strawberry basil beauty. Northeastern Dining served up her sweet treats for our Foodie Friends while they hung on Teeny’s every word. Ten lucky audience members won a signed copy of her cookbook "Teeny's Tour of Pie".
EYP: A Spoonful Of Spring
Northeastern Dining's Educate Your Palate, or "EYP," event brings a complete transformation to the college dining experience to broaden the culinary tastes of our students for one night. The 13th annual event, held on Wednesday, April 16, 2014, was entitled "A Spoonful of Spring" and featured springtime menu items from around the world.
Northeastern's International Village Dining was made over in just a few short hours with the help of the entire dining services team. To transform the service area from its typical appearance, decorations, including large country tables, wheeled carts, and wooden privacy walls from
New England Country Rentals, were brought in to bring the rustic, country feel to the modern space. Posters featuring food definitions and foodie quotes were pinned to the privacy walls as educational accent points throughout the servery. Exciting lighting design by
Boston Uplights provided splashes of color throughout the dining hall by hanging illuminated paper lanterns in springtime colors from the ceiling. Smaller versions of these colored lanterns were also used to decorate tables and countertop spaces throughout the venue. Finally, entertainment is always an important piece of EYP and this year's event was no different as we worked with
Boston Event Works to bring in local pianist Jim Chubet who delighted the crowd on a baby grand piano for almost two hours straight.
The star of each EYP, however, is always the food. The menu, featuring foods not normally found in any university dining setting, kicked off with a seafood and raw bar including oysters on the half shell and scallop ceviche shooters. A trip to the country farm followed as guests tried four varieties of deliciously deviled eggs, from roasted pepper & thai chile to avocado, anchovy & caviar. As guests made their way down the ramp to the main servery, a buffet line of foods from around the world awaited. Action stations featuring our chefs freshly sautéing mussels, carving grilled leg of lamb, and pan-frying kimchi & tofu dumplings excited the guests as they made their way through four unique cuisines of the world. Menu items from Portuguese grilled sardines and Mediterranean potato salad to fire roasted Mexican corn and bacon-infused buttermilk battered fried chicken were all huge hits with the students. Mason jars were distributed as drinking vessels for the night and guests were able to fill them up with their choice of a cucumber-infused water or green tea ginger twist before taking the jars home with them. As our diners were leaving, they were given a parting gift, a strawberry-rhubarb galette, inside a mini mason jar.
From seeing our entire team wearing t-shirts with the theme's springtime colors to watching the amazing responses from students flood in on social media (don't miss our
Storify of the event!), we couldn't be happier with EYP 2014 and are already looking ahead to EYP 2015!
Educate Your Palate: A Spoonful of Spring was featured in Food Management Magazine's article Choose Your Own Springtime Food Adventure
