Cookie' on Campus
Every week Penn State
students run Café Laura
as part of what some
feel is the most difficult
course they will take.
By Dan Schwartzman
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
disl3o@psu.edu
Although the long half-moon
shaped room appears the same,
every night a different menu con
ceived by the students of Hotel,
Restaurant and Institutional
Management 430 (Advanced
Food Production and Service
Management) creates an entire
ly new restaurant at Café Laura,
101 Mateer Building.
At 5:30 p.m., classical music
plays from the sound system.
About 25 tables, draped with
white cloth coverings, dot the
empty room.
The large windows outlining
its outer arc evoke a patio-like
feel.
The place settings frame a
cream-colored menu, bound by a
delicate red string and adorned
with a picture of Susanna Fbo
a Philadelphia-based restaura
teur who inspires tonight's
theme, a fusion of Chinese and
French style cooking.
Aside from "Asia's Finest," this
semester's themes include
"Alaskan Cruise," "Best of the
Hawaiian Islands" and many
others inspired by trends in the
restaurant industry.
Students in each of the three
sections test recipes and plan
meals, which will be served to
students and locals during the
lbesday, Wednesday and Thurs
day evening classes for the rest
of the semester.
Tonight's standouts are an
appetizer, Pork Dumpling Platter
accompanied with a Soy-Ginger
Sauce, and dessert, Coconut
Mousse garnished with pan-fried
Bananas both $4.
Every student in the major is
required to take HRIM 430 and a
prerequisite course, HRIM 329
(Introduction to Food Production
and Service), to become a certi
fied ServSafe food handler. Other
than a few paid staffers, the
restaurant's employees are stu
dents.
Instructor Matt Brenner said
the class is practical, allowing
students working in teams of six
or seven to experience all
aspects of a restaurant.
This means that one night, a
student might be working on the
management team, and the next,
"This is a class everyone loves to hate and
hates to love."
the student could be cooking the
meals or even cleaning dishes.
Some students have never
waited tables before, but after a
crash course they serve. Some
times this inexperience leads to
crashing dishes.
Teaching assistant Ashley
Bundy (senior-hotel, restaurant
and institutional management)
said customers tend to be forgiv
ing with student servers.
"They say, 'Oh, it's OK you
spilled my red wine on me,' "
Bundy said jokingly.-
While some servers have mas
tered waiting tables, some do not
fare as well. While entering the
kitchen, an off-balance waitress
lost some dishes, creating a loud
crash.
She sulked into the clean,
wide-open kitchen, sliding her
feet along the tan-colored tile
floor.
One of the line cooks consoled
her.
"Be good to my crew," said one
manager to a laughing line cook
A waiter asked for help from
his classmates: "Hey, you got two
hands?"
Meanwhile the pressure (and
temperature) of presiding over
the grill intensified. -
"I need a steak, medium-rare,"
said one cook. "Flounder for
table 17. How many flounder are
left? Give me an exact count"
"Eight," said another cook.
This element of teamwork is
one of the aspects that get stu
dents through potentially one of
the longest classes at Penn
State. Beginning at 1:25 p.m., the
three-credit class often takes
longer than 10 hours to com
plete, not including all the meet
ings the students attend to plan
meals.
"It's hard in the sense that it's
long," Bundy said.
By the end of the semester,
students accumulate more than
600 pages of recipes, meal plans
and reports.
"This is a class everyone loves
to hate and hates to love,"
Instructor Peter Yersin said.
Brenner added that many stu
dents take the course with the
realistic expectation that they
are in for a lot of work.
"Hopefully they leave here
with a sense of accomplish
ment," he said.
One crucial element to being
Peter Yersin
Instructor, HRIM 430
successful in planning the meals
involves purchasing the food,
which students do through Hous
ing and Food Services. Aside
from the help of their instruc
tors, Café Laura General Manag
er Scott King helps with financial
decisions on what and how
much to buy.
The prices and the products
are constrained by costs and
quantities (often smaller than
other restaurants).
The appetizers range from $3
to $5, entrees from $l2 to $lB and
desserts from $3 to $6. All tips go
toward a scholarship fund.
All tips recieved go toward the
scholarship fund, regardless of
whether they are received as
Lion Cash, credit card or cash.
But before the bill is paid at
the end of the meal, customers
fill out an evaluation. Students
use the feedback to change one
of the entrees on their menu for
the next meal.
Soon the words: "Last table!"
were exclaimed by an excited
waiter, and a cheer went up
through the kitchen. The only
work that remained (besides
clean up) was the effort of hoist
ing celebratory drinks later on at
a downtown bar.
Laura Sarowitz/Collegia
Mike Binder (senior-mdeia studies) enjoys a student-planned meal at Café Laura in 101 Mateer Building.
Laura Sarowitz/Collegian
Students work a variety of jobs including cooking and wait staff.
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