Oklahoma State University students have long regarded on-campus dining options like Taylor’s Restaurant (formerly Taylor’s Dining) in the Human Environmental Sciences building as a luxury option.
This “sit down” restaurant stands out among the dine-and-go options that most of us are used to eating in between classes. However, Taylor’s Restaurant has just made things a little easier for students to experience quick dining in style.
This semester Taylor’s Restaurant is shaking things up by moving away from ordering off a menu with American dishes and toward international-themed buffet dining.
The new dining style benefits not only the Hotel and Restaurant Administration (HRAD) students who use Taylor’s Restaurant as a lab to show off their restaurant management and food preparation skills, but also the OSU community as a whole says Taylor’s Restaurant manager Silvio Ceschini.
OSU students and employees can now enjoy Taylor’s Restaurant whether they have 30 minutes or a few hours of free time, and HRAD students can now gain experience preparing several types of cuisine they may not have ever been exposed to before.
The changes began after the HRAD department brought in Executive Chef Tiffany Poe last semester. After taking a look at how Taylor’s Restaurant was set up, she knew she had to make some changes and began implementing the global buffet concept last semester.
“Students want to be challenged and get a picture of what the real industry looks like,” Poe says. “The next generation will have to speak a global food language in order to be successful in the hospitality industry. This concept gives them a head start.”
Week one of this semester had the HRAD students preparing traditional Chinese style options. Week two featured food from southeastern Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Korea.
My lovely swan my server made to carry my desert in!
The restaurant will be closed the week of Feb. 8-12 for a special event within the department but will reopen Tuesday, Feb. 16 with a weeklong option of Indian cuisine!
“Taylor’s will be one of the “faces” of HRAD and the new facilities moving forward,” manager Ceschini says of all the exciting changes coming to the College of Human Environmental Sciences under which the HRAD department is housed. He looks forward to Taylor’s Restaurant embodying the excitement within the college, including a farm-to-table concept at Taylor’s Restaurant that is in the works for fall 2017.
So if you’ve ever thought you don’t have time to treat yourself to a nice “adult” meal on campus, Taylor’s Restaurant has just made it a lot easier. It also allows you to try dishes from different cultures each week. Although a reservation isn’t usually necessary, you can feel even more “adult” by making a reservation with OpenTable.
My friend Mollie happened to be manning the carving station the week I went!
Taylor’s Dining is open Tuesday-Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. Stay connected and in the know for each week’s cuisine theme by following Taylor’s Dining on Facebook or Twitter @taylorsdining.