Gourmet Meals 

Affordable Prices

Katy Billings

The UNA Culinary students, along with help from the Director of Culinary Arts Johnson Ogun and Chef Lewis Yuille, have came up with a delicious way to save students money with $5 Gourmet Meals. It is held in the dining hall of East Campus every selected Wednesday from 11-12 pm until they see how student turn-out will be. Reservations need to be made to know how many people should be expected.

“We want students to have real hands-on experience with actually serving in a restaurant. They get to present their own menus, make their grocery list, and actually create their vision and explore their creativity.” Chef Lewis says.

The students will be graded on their Menu, which they have taken a Menu planning class to prepare for, their grocery list, and Chef Lewis watches the kitchen and critiques the groups work, while Ogun keeps an eye on the front. The two group leaders for that trial have to manage their entire restaurant, from who is to be a waitress to who will be cooking their recipes. 

This year they will be Providing “American Regional Cuisine”, each student has a certain region that they use for inspiration on their recipes. On Wednesday, February 11th they will be having culinary inspiration from New England, then Mid-Atlantic cuisine on February 25th. 

The meal includes an appetizer and an entree that has a starch and vegetable. The first trial was a Plantation South inspired menu that included apple butter glazed pork loin with a potato dumpling soup as the appetizer. 

This is an exceptional deal, a great way to help your fellow students as well as get a low priced delicious meal. Both instructors will be assuring a great experience, as well as more great things from the culinary department in the future. The culinary department has also put out their own cook book with recipes from the chefs as well as the students. To make a reservation, call the east campus office at 256-765-4313.