Located in the Southeast corner of the Family and Consumer Education building is the Renegade Room, a restaurant that is operated by the students in the culinary arts program.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays the students in the program create food for the public, which is sold and presented in the style of a fine dining restaurant.
Lunch is presented on Wednesdays from the hours of 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the price ranges from $6.50 to $7.25 plus taxes. Dinner is served on Tuesdays and Thursdays from the hours of 5:30-7:30. The price is the same for both days at $10.50 plus taxes, but both nights are unique in their make-up.
Tuesday nights are the Bistro night and the patrons have the option to choose between two entrees. Thursdays, however, is the Banquet night and consists of an international buffet that varies with each week. Banquets included for the month of March were Tuscany, Spanish, French, and for the week of St. Patrick’s Day, an Irish buffet.
The menu is chosen by Head Chef Pat Coyle and Chef Suzanne Davis at the beginning of the semester. Coyle does not usually appear at Thursday night’s banquet, but reconsidered his usual trend on March 15 for this particular buffet.
“Tonight is God’s food!” exclaimed Coyle as he checked the various temperatures on the food. When asked why, he professed that it is because the food was of Irish descent.
The two main entrees to choose from on that night included a slow roasted Irish leg of lamb with whiskey sauce and simmered Irish spiced corned beef.
The leg of lamb was prepared by student Jacob Hayslett the night before. “I prepared the herb rub last night,” said Hayslett, “then I stuffed it and put it in the slow cooker.”
This was Hayslett’s second semester in the program, which qualified him to work on Thursday night’s banquet.
Tuesday’s Bistro night is put together by a different group of people who are in the infancy of the program. “This class is a lot less stressful,” said Hayslett, “Tuesday night is when you get more of a restaurant feel.”
The bistro night has the makings of a more chaotic feel because the students are constantly plating food from orders taken and making sure that the food is out at the proper time.
The banquet night is a bit calmer due to the all the food being out there at the same time and the customers choosing and plating their own food.
“The deadline is a lot earlier,” commented Ryan Steed about the banquet night, “and everyone already has a feel for the kitchen. With the bistro night you have a lot of people running around that are new and barely catching on. But in that one semester, you learn a lot.”
The on-campus restaurant allows the students to work outside of the confines of lecture to experience and learn the atmosphere of a restaurant.
“They get their hands on, and they get to see that it’s not like the Food Channel with Emeril,” said Coyle. “It’s pressure, and they have to be ready at 5:15 because we serve at 5:30.”