This "Friends" generation eating facility boasts couches, chairs and long chats. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis photo)
Third-year student checks out the Segundo Dining Commons
As a freshman waiting in line at the old Segundo Dining Commons (that's 'DC' in college-speak), I had a perfect view of the glittering new facility under construction just across the lawn. I eyed the glass windows of this rising coliseum with keen interest, wondering when I would ever get a chance to eat there.
After two years of waiting, my curiosity has been satisfied.
For you former dining commons patrons of two decades ago — or even two years ago — brace yourselves. The college dining experience has received a complete and total makeover.
The only word to accurately describe my initial reaction is "Wow." The interior of this DC.2 has an entirely new format and something that the old DC only dreamed of — ambiance.
Gone are the cramped rows of mess-hall tables. Instead, diverse seating options are arranged in clusters under a raised ceiling, offset by natural light.
There are actually couches in the new Segundo Dining Commons. Arm chairs, too. Within the walls of this spacious fan-shaped facility, assembly-line service and cafeteria-style dining are a thing of the past.
Like many faculty who visit, Ken Burtis received the word-of-mouth urging from his colleagues: "You've gotta get over to Segundo!"
Restaurant-style dining
According to Brenan Connolly, Sodexho resident dining general manager, the aim of the new facility is to create a restaurant-style experience for students. He describes dining in the old DC as I vividly remember it: After waiting in endless conveyer-belt lines, students overloaded their trays to avoid elbowing back into line for seconds, ultimately wasting a third of their food.
"Our goal is to bring the food out to the students, to let them see it being prepared," he says.
A new system of food-preparation stations creates an approach dubbed "destination dining." Once students choose a burger from the Tomato Street Grill or a Mongolian barbeque-style dish from Pacific Fusion, they head to the appropriate platform, where the chefs serve the food they have just prepared.
The chefs do the serving to encourage manageable portions, while adding to the flavor of presentation. With seating available at every locale in the dining hall, students are able to sit down and finish one dish before deciding to try another.
Dispelling the 'mystery meat' perception
The idea is to dispel the prevalent, if unfounded, "mystery meat" perception of dorm food, Connolly says.
Meats, vegetables and pasta are prepared centrally at the Culinary Support Center, another feature of the new building that services all Sodexho dining areas on campus.
This allows chefs at individual culinary platforms to assemble, grill and sauté the prepared ingredients in front of the students moments before they are served.
Connolly hopes that making the cooking staff more visible will encourage personal student-staff feedback. "I want students to come back and say, 'Hey Linda, the burger was great.' I want to have the cooks ask students what worked."
Reservations about leaving the kitchen
Many staff members had reservations about making the transition out of the kitchen and into the preparation spotlight, he says.
But for Twyla Garcia, former demo chef at the old DC who now works at The Bistro platform, the student interaction is a highlight of her job.
"Students will ask me if I made something, or they'll tell me my food is good. They inspire me to keep working hard. That's what keeps me going."
Whatever magic ingredient is keeping the staff going these days, let's hope it's not in short supply. Due to delays in the renovation of the Tercero Dining Commons, Segundo will be shouldering the influx of displaced diners and workers for much of the fall quarter.
The staff that anticipated accommodating a single student community of 1,500 now serves twice that, feeding 3,000 hungry mouths a day. That translates to an average of 2,200 diners at each meal.
Dinner with the dean
The popularity of the Segundo DC has extended beyond the student community. Faculty and staff comprise about 100 of the daily diners, and Ken Burtis Interim, interim dean of biological sciences, is frequently among them. Like many faculty who visit, he received the word-of-mouth urging from his colleagues — "You've gotta get over to Segundo!"
A UC Davis undergraduate himself from 1972 to 1976, Burtis says the current food and facility are astounding compared to his own undergraduate Segundo eating experience, when the newest feature was the introduction of the burger line (see "Ken Burtis' Top 10" link).
He sees the new facility as an ideal place for "very direct interaction and feedback from students." To that end, he is launching a weekly "Dinner with the Dean," a chance to break bread with students and talk with them about — well, anything.
Burtis jokes that this offers a great chance for random sampling from the field population. "I want to put a more human face on the dean's office. I don't want to just read reports. I want to hear about issues from the students."
Student views
So what do students think about this latest addition to the campus? Among freshmen, the perception is largely positive, though some traditional criticisms of campus dining still exist.
The seating capacity is twice that of the old DC, but there are still lines and crowds at peak dining hours due to the increased student load. And, as with any mass dining experience, some meals are bound to be better than others.
But these inconveniences are softened by the undeniable newness of the facility.
"My friends from other schools say it's so much better than what they have," says Tercero resident Lisa Lopez.
Perhaps comparison creates more of a basis for praise. Is it any surprise that during Summer Advising, Sodexho's Connolly witnessed more amazement from parents than students?
Most likely to pick up on improvements in the new DC are those who knew the "before" version of this culinary makeover, not just the "after."
Sophomore eases her transition with DC
To ease her transition out of the dorms, sophomore and former Segundo resident Melanie Williams purchased an off-campus meal plan that enables her to eat at the new DC several times a week.
"I honestly can't imagine how they could make it better," she says, pointing out that the lines are shorter, there is a variety of seating, and an added bonus: "When you come out, you don't smell like DC."
After my own long-awaited visit, I discovered that the food is much the same as I remember it — which is largely a good thing. I would trade in my frozen dinners for some "10,000 chicken" and raspberry soft serve ice cream in a heartbeat.
The presentation, however, is utterly, amazingly different. Who ever would have envisioned couches in a dining commons?
"We want students to feel like this is their home, their kitchen," Connolly says.
Remind me — what was the cost of an off-campus meal plan?