printable versionStanford Dining recognized by industry peers for excellence in food service
Campus organization is one of six recipients to be honored
BY MICHAEL PEÑA
Linx, at the Clark Center (above), has three food stations whose menus change weekly and are taste-tested daily. Linx specializes in Mediterranean cuisine, Asian fare and all-American comfort food with a gourmet twist.
In 2003, Raul Lacara, now the executive chef for Stanford Dining and for the Schwab Residential Center, won the first Cardinal Toque Culinary Challenge and a trip to Paris to study culinary art.
Stanford Dining is one of six recipients of this year's Ivy Awards, which are given annually by the magazine Restaurants & Institutions to operations that "demonstrate the highest standards of excellence in food, service and overall hospitality." If it isn't considered the Oscar of the foodservice sector, it's at least akin to the Screen Actors Guild Award.
That's because winners are chosen by their peers, including past winners and the approximately 154,000 subscribers to the magazine. So Stanford Dining sees the award as a huge nod of recognition from colleagues around the country for great strides made in the last 15 years and for the operation's current standards of service and cuisine. Along with Stanford Dining, the other five winners include restaurants such as Commander's Palace in Las Vegas, MK the Restaurant in Chicago and Trattoria dell'Arte in New York City.
Boston College also made this year's winning batch, as did the Peabody Orlando hotel. Past recipients include celebrity chef Mario Batali's Babbo Ristorante in New York City, the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai and, here in the Bay Area, San Francisco's Rubicon and Aqua restaurants. In recent years, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based magazine also has honored the foodservice arms of the University of Missouri, Villanova University and Princeton University.
That college cuisine has moved beyond meatloaf and Tater Tots is no surprise, especially at premiere universities. At Stanford, dining administrators point to a number of examples that typify the caliber of their program: using the meat of free-range ducks from Sonoma County in salads served at Linx, a new partnership with Barilla America making it the sole supplier of pasta on campus and a goal of using organic vegetables whenever possible at every Stanford Dining location.
"We're not just a school cafeteria," said Rafi Taherian, executive director of Stanford Dining. "We're on the forefront for many reasons."
Stanford Dining is a division of the university's Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE) and serves about 18,000 meals a day in 22 dining locations during the academic year, in addition to operating the Catering and Athletic Concessions departments. In recent years, Stanford Dining has opened six cafés and restaurants on campus.
But in addition to the quality of food, Stanford Dining prides itself on its high standard of service. On average, one in 10 high school students entering college has a food allergy, according to Taherian. That's why Stanford has a peanut-sensitive dining hall—it's the first U.S. university to create such a program. Mary Duch, the manager of Ricker Dining, heads the program.
Then there's the foodservice demands generated by routine business at Stanford. In addition to feeding thousands of university employees on their individual lunch breaks, Stanford Dining provides year-round catering services for academic and executive events on campus. About $36 million is spent on campus annually for catering services, according to Taherian. And to that end, he credits Raul Lacara, the executive chef for Stanford Dining and for the Schwab Residential Center, and Felix Krishna, an events manager who oversees catering across campus.
"It wasn't so much a surprise for the people in this organization, but it was certainly appreciated," said Taherian, referring to the Ivy Award. "It wasn't an easy thing, but I'm glad we have it."
Taherian, a classically trained executive chef from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., first came to Stanford in 1996 as a senior chef manager. Prior to his appointment as executive director of Stanford Dining in January 2005, Taherian served in various positions, including as associate director for residential dining for five years and as acting executive director of Stanford Dining for six months after the departure of its former head, Nadeem Siddiqui.
Shirley Everett, associate vice provost for R&DE, said Taherian has helped renovate numerous residential dining programs while working with the university's executive chefs in implementing innovative dining, food and service concepts. This includes programs that encourage environmental sustainability and personal feedback from students via ongoing visits.
Everett came to Stanford in 1991 as associate director of dining services, where she first managed the operation of 10 residence hall dining locations. She launched numerous innovations, including creating new positions for an executive chef and a training and education manager. She also brought under her purview athletic concessions and training tables, campuswide vending and all student-managed kitchens at the time.
Everett said she takes pride in initiating Stanford's gradual and dramatic turnaround that improved the quality of food on campus. She has been honored by the Culinary Institute of America for co-developing formal culinary training programs for university foodservice workers and received the National Association of College and University Food Service President's Award in 1998 and 2001.
In a letter congratulating Taherian and the Stanford Dining team, Everett credited them with supporting and helping realize her vision for transforming the operation into a cutting-edge, customer-focused program. She also thanked Eric Montell, senior associate director of residential, catering and executive dining; Irit Tadelis, Stanford Dining's finance director; and Karen Andrews, associate director of retail and concessions. Everett called the last 15 years a "rewarding journey through many years of change and innovation."
"Rafi has taken the mantle, embraced these ideals and carried them forward through his visionary leadership and incredible culinary talent," Everett said. "It is an honor when your accomplishments are recognized by your peers—they know what it takes to be an industry leader."
More than 300 foodservice operations have been given an Ivy Award since the program began in 1971. This year's 87 contenders were nominated by previous winners and then voted on by the magazine's readership. All of this year's winners will be honored at a gala in Chicago on May 21.
But, as the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding—or at Linx, in the hummus. Located on the ground level of the James H. Clark Center, Linx has three food stations whose menus change weekly and are taste-tested daily. Linx specializes in Mediterranean cuisine, Asian fare and all-American comfort food with a gourmet twist.
"We have the professors, the doctors, and we also have the graduate students on the limited budget and the undergraduate students who are on an even more limited budget," said Eric Williams, the chef de cuisine at Linx. "We want to make everybody as happy as we can."
Price, he acknowledged, is another criteria of satisfaction: "We try to have some inexpensive grab-and-go items," Williams said. "We're working on getting more items on the stations in the $2 to $4 range."
More than the quality of the food that Stanford Dining buys, its biggest operating cost is labor, Taherian said.
Stanford Dining has plans to implement a tiered-price structure at all its retail operations, with offerings to be set at $4.95, $5.95 and $6.95, Taherian said. As for students, it currently costs about $4,600 a year to eat 19 times a week on campus, which falls somewhere in the middle of the price spectrum for student dining, Taherian said.
A couple of freshmen eating lunch at the Marketplace in Wilbur Hall on Tuesday gave mixed reviews. Kiran Harding said he appreciates fresh ingredients but doesn't necessarily need organic vegetables. Ivan Lee said he notices the emphasis on Asian cuisine at the Marketplace—its featured specialty—and he complimented the staff as well.
"What's good here is that you can go up and talk to the people in the kitchen and they'll actually respond," Lee said.