Four students are preparing three-course Tex Mex-inspired meals for this week’s Allegre Restaurant menu, planning all aspects of the meal from dining room layouts to standardizing recipes.
Teaching students through first hand experience, the Allegre restaurant offers a first-hand meal planning experience to anyone enrolled in the Quantity Food Production class of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.
For Wednesday’s lunch, meal managers Katie Scott and Abby Kirkwood will prepare chile rellenos and Southwestern salad for an appetizer, allowing a choice of one per meal. The entree will be chicken fajitas, served with pinto beans, Mexican rice and sweet yeast rolls.
For dessert, the duo is serving margarita cupcakes.
For Thursday’s Tex Mex dinner, Korren Eiden and David Mann will offer a choice of beef nachos or enchilada soup for the appetizer. The main course consists of steak fajitas, a stuffed pepper and a cheese tamale, with pan dulce for dessert.
Eiden, a senior dietetics major, said she and Mann have spent a lot of time working on the preparation for this meal, which has involved not only cooking plans but also budget management and menu design, among other facets.
Because the students in the class are preparing their meals for paying customers, an added pressure plays a part in the planning process.
“When you cook for yourself at home, it’s a mostly relaxed and casual event,” Eiden said. “However, when you have the responsibility of pleasing paying customers, things are much more stressful and every decision seems to bear more weight as you have guidelines and budgets that must be followed.”
She said she was daunted by the workload required from this course; however, she said in the end, the satisfaction of organizing an entire meal will be rewarding.
“I’ll admit, I was apprehensive about taking this class and putting forth this kind of work for a project, but so far, everything has really fallen into place, and this Thursday, I’ll be able to sit back and just be proud of what’s been accomplished,” she said.
For more information, check out the Allegre website allegre.iweb.bsu.edu
