Bruce Biron, chef at Manzanita, offers his recipe for falafel, which spurs a debate about the best technique for making the Mediterranean staple. The falafel balls must be shaped, fried and then slipped into the pita bread, explains Taherian, who spent years working in restaurants in Northern Italy while studying architecture in college. But Taherian questions whether that's too many chicken sandwiches for one week, with a grilled one on Monday, a chicken patty on Wednesday and a barbecue chicken gyro on Friday. Such maneuvering is often necessary to maintain the right mix of dishes, says Graves. As the dining service's purchasing manager, she will check the meal plan for subtle glitches.
Tastes change in a century.
When we look at the menu, we want to make sure that all the food items aren't the same color, the same texture and the same appearance. Moreover, dishes should be complementary but able to stand on their own, and there should be a good balance between protein and veggie items, she says. Her electronic database contains some 1,600 recipes collected over the years from past and current Stanford chefs. A powerful computer program projects how much food the dorms will need and estimates the cost. It also keeps track of how many cartons of milk, pounds of beef and bushels of fruits and vegetables are left in the pantry.