Gentle Readers,
Miss Dish often enjoys being the subject of scientific
experimentation. She feels it is her duty as an American citizen
to volunteer her body to help the pursuit of perfection. Plus,
her favorite pet is the guinea pig (run, you little fur ball,
run!). It was with this moral objective in mind that Miss
Dish ventured to the International Dining Room--part
of the Western
Culinary Institute--to offer her body to science.
In this quaint dining room, students of kitchen economics
show off the results of their studies. Guinea pigs donate
$7.95 for a five-course lunch or $14.95 for a seven-course
dinner, and on Thursdays there's a lavish buffet for $14.95.
All in the name of research.
The dining room (1235 SW Jefferson St., 294-9770) is a
lovely French bistro complete with comfy stripped banquets,
muted lighting and cheery vintage product posters. It wasn't
always this nice. Last week marked the unveiling of a much-needed
redesign. According to Ramsey Hamdan, food and beverage
director at the school, the room used to look "depressing."
It's hard to say which flaw was the worst offender. The
lavender walls? The green carpet? The 1970s track canister
lighting? Two weeks and less than $180,000 later, the place
is transformed. A flambé station now stands guard
in the corner, and a second room hosts the buffet with a
grand presence. Two sketches of Paris that Hamdan's brother
brought back for him from France many years ago now decorate
the walls, after one of the contract decorators nabbed them
from Hamdan's office.
"The servers feel better about serving here," Hamdan says.
"And the food looks that much nicer on the table."
And speaking of the food, how did Miss Dish's experiments
go? For lunch she was regaled with a wide selection of what
might be best described as grand country-club cuisine. One
would have to search very hard to find such rarities as
salad served in a basket made of beaumont cheese and vegetables
served en vol-au-vent, i.e., in a puff pastry case.
A very fascinating voyage indeed!
The buffet was a whirlwind of international travel, during
which Miss Dish's plate proved it is a small world
after all. Smoked gravlax snuggled with salad nicoise, beef
kebab and sushi.
It is certainly a nice thing to offer assistance to the
young men and women who are working so hard to make this
world a better place.
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Willamette Week | originally
published January 26,
2000
|
