K-16 aka "The Ex Girlfriend"

    I don't wanna toot my own horn or anything here but I think I created the most accurate analogy ever. The teaching kitchens on campus (not our bakery/restaurants) are responsible for producing the meals for our student meal plan and they include (but are not limited to): cuisines of the Americas--upstairs/downstairs, cuisines of Asia--upstairs/downstairs, cuisines of the Mediterranean (Meds)--upstairs/downstairs, and the infamous K-16 production kitchen. Every kitchen has the potential to be hit or miss depending on whether its open for lunch or dinner, which chef is running the kitchen, what menu they are running that day and a variety of other minute factors like ordering a burger from a kid who is clearly in the weeds, is being bitched out by the chef and looks like he is about to cry or shit himself (there is no way that burger is coming out medium rare, just except it). Typically though, some kitchens operate better than others (Meds has been the gold standard for consistency recently) and those ones are always picked clean, so get there early...as in 30-45 minutes before they even open. No joke. What, you think those braised short ribs are still going to be available by the time they get to your section of the line? forget it. Your eating the vegetarian option today, sucka (not necessarily a bad thing).
    The reality of it all is that your eating food cleaned, prepped, cooked, and plated by STUDENTS. There are times when you will eat something so good you'll momentarily forget where you are (snaps fingers in front of eyes, no response) and there are times...well lets just say that the kid who barely passed fish fabrication is the same kid who prepared your salmon lunch. Even when its bad, its not THAT bad, we're all just spoiled with the best ingredients on a daily basis.
    My favorite kitchen to talk about is K-16--the high production kitchen right next to our main dining hall. Most of the kitchens will push 60-80 plates a day but K-16 is open from breakfast till dinner and they pump out 300-500 plates on any given day. Since they are such a high volume kitchen and move at lightning pace, the quality of the food takes a dip (especially when a new class comes in). The advantage is that they're always open (mostly) and the disadvantage is that the food is lacking a bit. You still with me? Good.
    I came up with the analogy that K-16 is like an ex-girlfriend in that nothing good can come out of going there. You refuse and say you've moved on, but its raining, your drunk, and the Asian, American, and Mediterranean girls (kitchens) are all taken...what's a guy to do, ya know?

students in K-16 plating wraps viewable from the window in the main hallway

DISCLAIMER: I would like to point out at this time that this post is a harmless joke amongst my friends and I. It in no way reflects my real feelings about past relationships or women in general. All the girls in my life both past and present (you know who you are) have helped make me the person I am today. I love you all and hold a special place in my heart for each one of you. Cheers to all the beautiful women in my life.