Author: Desroches, Rebecca

Senior Slice Winners

Posted on March 16, 2021March 16, 2021 by Desroches, Rebecca

Congrats to seniors Danielle Costa & Giuliana Marchetti! Their pizza creations for our first Senior Slice were selected out of six finalists. Voting was open to the entire UConn community during the week of March 5th-12th!

Both winners will receive a pizza party pack to share their creation with friends. USM, North and McMahon will be serving the slices on March 24th during lunch and dinner.

Danielle Costa – Mac ‘n Cheese (base) with pulled pork, onions, peppers, cheddar cheese, bbq sauce & oregano
Giuliana Marchetti – Spicy red sauce (base) with vegan meatball, vegan Italian sausage, spinach, peppers, vegan slice Chao cheese, pesto (nut/cheese free) & oregano

Thank you to everyone that took part!

Dining During Ramadan

Posted on March 15, 2021March 18, 2021 by Desroches, Rebecca

Beginning April 12th all students observing Ramadan will be able to pick up meals at McMahon Dining Hall. There are no other dining halls open other than McMahon after April 11th. Dining Services will have a variety of meals prepared with reheating instructions. We will also set up a station to pick up a bagged breakfast when students pick up their dinner meal. Sundown in April begins at 7:23pm and gradually moves to 8:01pm by May 12th. Therefore the dining hall will remain open until 8:30pm in order to allow students to pick up their food after prayer.

Any student who had a meal plan this semester and is approved to be on campus from April 12th-May 12th will be able to participate. Students will tap their ID for the dinner meal. Students will also need to sign in for the breakfast meal when they pick up their dinner. There is no indoor seating after April 11th.

Catering Team Wins Culinary Olympics Boiling Point Competition

Posted on March 10, 2021January 4, 2023 by Desroches, Rebecca

Typically, the annual UConn Dining Culinary Olympics is held in January in the South Ballroom, buzzing with chefs, judges, and hundreds of attendees. The full-day event consists of a recipe contest amongst chefs in the morning and the Boiling Point competition with teams in the afternoon. Due to COVID, Dining Services had to rethink the event. For the 21st Annual Culinary Olympics, the event consisted of just the Boiling Point competition and took place on November 17th and 18th in Dining’s Innovation Lab. The event was not open to the public.

Five teams signed up and each came to the Innovation Lab during their assigned time. Upon arrival, each team was given the same mystery basket of ingredients and 60 minutes to create their dishes. The mystery basket this year consisted of: lamb chops, a Jimmy Dean biscuit sausage egg and cheese sandwich, lentils, mandarin oranges, celery root, and cold brew coffee concentrate.

The judges presiding over the event were Cynthia Costanzo, interim director of the UConn Student Union, and Jay Frain, interim executive director of UConn Recreation.

Catering won with their dish: Orange espresso lamb chop with fall-inspired fresh celery root slaw, cheesy bacon mashed, and home-style honey sriracha baked lentils & pork. Congratulations to our team members Amanda Flynn, Jeremy Quintana, and Kathy Halgren on their creative dish! The Bistro took second place, and chefs from Gelfenbien won third. Other teams included participants from Putnam and McMahon dining halls.

Passover 2021 Meal Request Form

Posted on March 10, 2021March 10, 2021 by Desroches, Rebecca

Passover meals will be served out of the Gelfenbien Grab & Go window from Tuesday, March 30th-Friday, April 2nd.

Use our online form to sign up for meals for yourself and guests.

Finalists Chosen for Class of 2021 Senior Slice

Posted on March 5, 2021March 5, 2021 by Desroches, Rebecca

The staff at McMahon Dining Hall have chosen six finalists for the inaugural Senior Slice. Congrats to the finalists! Voting is open until the end of the day on March 12th, 2021.

Vote here dining.uconn.edu/senior-slice

Non-Vegan Pizza Finalists

Sophia Arruda – Spicy red sauce (base) with capicola, onions, roasted poblanos, pineapple, gouda, oregano & thyme
Daniella Costa – Mac n Cheese (base) with pulled pork, onions, peppers, cheddar cheese, bbq sauce & oregano
Sophia Arruda – Queso (base) with pulled chicken, jalapeno, corn, black beans, Monterey Jack cheese, pepper jack cheese, oregano & cilantro

Vegan Pizza Finalists

Giuliana Marchetti – Spicy red sauce (base) with vegan meatball, vegan Italian sausage, spinach, peppers, vegan slice Chao cheese, pesto (nut/cheese free) & oregano
Julia Roemer – Traditional red sauce (base) with eggplant, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, basil & oregano
Frank Magnante – Garlic oil (base) with eggplant, spinach, broccoli, onions, pesto (nut/cheese free) & oregano

Thank You Huskies

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Desroches, Rebecca

Thank you, students, for keeping the #UConnPromise and following dining guidelines throughout campus. We know that it’s been a tough year and we appreciate all that you are doing to keep #UConnNation a safe community for everyone to continue to live, work, eat and have fun! #ThankYouUConn

Dining Services Launches Senior Slice

Posted on February 22, 2021February 23, 2021 by Desroches, Rebecca

Dining Services is launching Senior Slice!

Like Senior Scoop, we are looking to make this a fun and tasty UConn tradition for the senior class.

Members of the Class of 2021 can build and submit their favorite kinds of vegan and non-vegan pizzas.

Dining Services will then select a few finalist pizzas for seniors to vote on. The winning vegan and non-vegan pizza will be served at McMahon, North, and USM this spring. Stay tuned, more locations may be added!

More than one idea can be submitted. Please submit your ideas by the end of the day on February 28th: https://dining.uconn.edu/senior-slice/

Questions: Contact DDSMarketing@uconn.edu

In The News: Dining to Develop Plant-Based Cafe

Posted on February 5, 2021February 8, 2021 by Desroches, Rebecca

The idea of a plant-based café on campus was first brought forth to Dining by Maddie Pickett, a fourth-semester biomedical engineering major. Dining created a survey to see what students at Storrs thought of the idea and many were in favor of seeing this idea come to fruition.

This new venture for the fall will involve students through the entire development process and also provide dining with more opportunities to support CT farms, in particular, our student-run Spring Valley Farm.

Stay tuned! Next steps are to create a mission statement, invite students to share their favorite plant-based recipes, and then test some of these recipes with students in our innovation lab. Check out the article in the UConn Daily Campus http://bit.ly/3jkh2Ho

Dining Hall & Retail Changes Beginning Jan 31st

Posted on January 28, 2021January 28, 2021 by Desroches, Rebecca

With the Spring semester quarantine period ending soon, the following changes will take place:

Dining Hall Updates

Indoor seating begins Feb. 1st
Buckley & North will transition to quarantine-only units on Monday, Feb. 1st. Both units are take-out only.
Swiping in another UConn student (that has been COVID tested) with a Flex Pass is allowed as of Feb 1st; Swipe in’s are not allowed at Buckley and North
Late Night Dining at McMahon and Northwest starts Sunday, Jan. 31st (Sunday through Thursday both units are open for dinner until 10pm)

Retail Updates

Locations in the Student Union will have expanded hours starting Feb. 1st
Up and Atom Cafe, Mango*, and Bookworms Cafe will reopen Feb. 1st
Dairy Bar Too will reopen on Feb. 8th
Dairy Bar will reopen on Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, with online ordering and curbside service. Hours will be from 12:00 -5:00pm;
please place orders by 4:30pm.

*Mango will be closing early on Monday, Feb. 1st & Tuesday, Feb. 2nd at 2:30pm due to the Rec Center closing early (4pm) for student staff training

Stay Up To Date with Dining through our social accounts or through the myUConn App. Dining has an opt-in channel on the app to receive notifications for important information and updates.

Just Ask

If you have a dietary request –“Just Ask”
If you are looking for a particular item, and don’t see it-“Just Ask”
If you are vegan or vegetarian and are looking for a different menu option –“Just Ask”
If you are looking for a slight modification to a menu item, “Just Ask: if it is possible, we will do our best to accommodate your request.
If there is anything else, “Just Ask” for a manager and we will be happy to assist.

Reminder of our Dining Guidelines