Dining Services’ Farm Fresh Market season will begin on Thursday, May 21st from 11:30am – 1:30pm on Fairfield Way and will run every Thursday (except July 2nd) through September 10th; then change to Fridays, September 18th and September 25th. This cash only market will offer fresh local produce from our own Spring Valley Student Farm and other local farms, baked goods from our Not Just Desserts Bakery, local honey and many other local products each week. Stop by during your lunch break and see what’s available.

Spring is here, the end of semester is at hand and summer will be here momentarily. Dining Services’ retail operations will be going to summer hour schedules beginning on various dates in May. You can find the hours at this link. NOTE: Change in hours for USM on August 26th and 27th: USM will close at 2:30pm.

UConn Dining Services has won the Gold Award for the Best Local Foods Recipe in the 2015 NACUFS (National Association of College and Food Service) Nutrition Awards contest! Open to all institutional members of the association, the goal of the Best Local Foods Recipe Contest is to recognize and encourage the use of locally produced foods in the menus of NACUFS member institutions. The winning recipe, served at Chuck & Augie’s, is “Sweet Potato Gnocci with Applewood Smoked Bacon, Green Peas, Granny Smith Apples and Cremini Mushrooms”. You will find the recipe here.

Dining Services is pleased to offer two UCann Cook Camps for Children, ages 10-13, again in July. These cooking camps, taught by our award winning UConn chefs, are very popular and fill up fast. Camp 101 is for beginning young chefs and Camp 102 is for more experienced young chefs. Click this link for information.        http://dining.uconn.edu/?p=2448

Dining Services is pleased to offer a first on a university campus – an on-site gluten free bakery. As the demand for gluten free baked goods increases, UConn Dining Services is ready to meet that demand by supplying all residential dining units, cafes, grab & go’s as well as University Catering, with fresh baked gluten free products by the end of this semester. For more information go to the bakery webpage at http://dining.uconn.edu/bakery/

Chef Kyle Davis, from UConn’s Department of Dining Services, received a Silver Medal  at the Northeast Regional NACUFS Conference in Providence in March. Kyle competed against ten other chefs, representing different colleges and universities around the Northeast. His Silver Medal dish was a Baby Bella and Pinoli Nut Buffalo Flank Steak with Cipollini Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes and Vegetable Medley.

Welcome back to the Spring 2015 semester. View the latest issue of Dining Services’ UCuisine.

 

In honor of UConn’s 2014 Convocation, Dining Services’ “Not Just Desserts” Bakery presented a history of UConn on a very large and unusual display cake. Designed as a commemorative history of UConn, Eric Merkle, Bakery Manager, spent hours perusing photos in the UConn digital photo gallery. Approximately 200 photos were printed on edible paper and then individually framed using 300 pounds of molded chocolate: milk, dark and white. During the convocation celebration, Eric adhered the framed photos to the cake, assisted by Sandy Sandberg, Head Pastry Chef and Crystal Russell, Pastry Chef. The Bakery staff also created dozens of sheet cakes which were served, along with famous UConn Dairy Bar ice cream, to more than 3,500 members of the incoming freshman class.

 

View the 2014 Fall issue of UCuisine

 

The Department of Dining Services is pleased to present a new quick-service restaurant with a focus on healthy options. “One Plate, Two Plates – Fast Food Served Healthy & Fresh” is located in the Student Union location next to Panda Express. Recognizing the need for a more expansive healthy choice menu, Dining spent the summer developing menu items that included grain salads, vegetable wraps, and healthy tacos, to name just a few. “One Plate, Two Plates” was conceived with the philosophy that our menu options will be made from non-processed foods. We realize there are individuals on campus looking to strive for a healthy balance when it comes to food and are seeking out natural foods versus foods made with artificial ingredients. We hope that creating a menu based on preparing real food made daily from scratch will meet our community’s needs.