Lunch Specials for May 12-16

Amid the flurry of activity as staff and students alike wrap up their semesters, Campus House is here to provide peaceful refuge, if only for an afternoon meal.  We offer the following special dishes this week to ease into warmer weather.  Our patio is open, so join us for a bite or a drink, whether preparing to depart for the summer or staying through the summer semesters.  Campus House will continue to serve lunches through Friday, June 20.

***Cuban pressed sandwiches are all the rage, combining crispy bread with a satisfying array of fillings.  The Campus House version stays true to the classic Cuban sandwich with roasted pork loin, ham, wholegrain mustard, pickles, and swiss on a Costanzo roll.

***The featured soup is a beautiful sweet potato and corn soup.  It is both gluten-free and vegan, chock-full of aromatic vegetables.

***Flatbread pizzas are a trend every restaurant wants to offer, but Campus House sets the bar high by topping naan flatbread with BBQ chicken, green apples, blue cheese, and caramelized onions.

***Nicoise salad is a French bistro classic.  Combining green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and kalamata olives with field greens, the salad is the epitome of springtime freshness. Typically, the salad contains tuna, but Campus House ups the ante by topping the salad instead with fresh grilled swordfish.

***Spring is the time to celebrate asparagus and mushrooms just hitting the peak of their season.  Chef Shetice makes these ingredients sing in a shiitake and asparagus risotto.  Topped with seared scallops and white truffle butter, this dish is MmmmMmmm good!

 We hope to see you soon at Campus House, where you will experience world-class service.

On the horizon for Campus House & the Hospitality department

In less than two weeks, the 2014 class of Buffalo State College will cross the stage with a degree in hand.  The Hospitality and Tourism Department is proud of its outgoing senior class and wishes all of the graduating hospitality students a fond farewell.  In the quest to bring a renewed professionalism to an ever-expanding industry, the journey is just beginning for these graduates. 

The Hospitality program is beginning a journey of its own as well.  Starting this summer, construction will begin on the renovation of Caudell Hall, the longtime home of the Hospitality Department.  Although it once started as a teaching laboratory for home economics teachers, the building eventually came to house both the departments of Hospitality & Tourism and Dietetics & Nutrition.  Both departments will be relocated on campus until construction is finished for the Fall 2016 semester.

The new and improved Caudell Hall will showcase the Hospitality Department in all its glory.  The building’s window-clad first floor will feature a basic food lab for introductory classes, a baking lab, a catering and production kitchen/classroom, and perhaps most highly anticipated, a “culinary theater” -- a demonstration kitchen studio where cooking classes will be offered for faculty and staff, as well as students.  The Dietetics department and additional classrooms will be housed on the building’s new upper floors.

Excitement is already swirling for the Hospitality program’s 2015 study abroad trip A Taste of France.  Students interested in learning more about the French cultural and culinary excursion can contact Professor Kathleen O’Brien at Campus House for additional details.

In addition to all of the excitement surrounding the long-term plans for the program, Campus House is celebrating the upcoming summer with some fun events of its own.  On Wednesday, June 11, Campus House will host its annual Clam Bake, a lunchtime buffet of seafood with all the traditional fixings.  Contact Campus House for more information or reservations.

Even though this semester is ending, Campus House will continue service until Friday, June 20.  Summer term Hospitality students will take over the club operations and continue to provide world-class food and service to bridge the gap between school sessions.  In addition, Campus House is taking reservations for its annual meeting and members-only picnic on Friday, June 20.

The Hospitality staff and students would like to thank members and guests for kindly contributing to the Campus House gratuity fund this year.   Tips given to Campus House student servers were pooled together, where the generosity of diners allowed students and staff to attend Hospitality conferences in Orlando and St. Louis this year and student outings throughout the school year.  A big thanks to Faye Northrup and Jerry McGuire, who generously helped arrange a student excursion to the Darwin Martin House, where students were able to enjoy the hospitality of others as a wonderful reward for their own work.

Campus House will be closed on Friday, May 9, for student finals study day.  Shortly after, the summer menu will debut at the club, where lovely patio lunches can be enjoyed at leisure.  We look forward to seeing you soon at Campus House, where you will receive world-class service, delicious dishes, and loads of spring sunshine. 

Lunch Specials for May 5-8

Here we are, in the final stretch of the school year… Campus House students and staff alike look forward to providing guests with a sweet ending to their semester.  Happiness is surely in sight with weekly specials like these...

***The featured soup this week is creamy chicken, lemon, & rice soup.  The vegan and gluten-free option is tomato basil soup.

***A club sandwich is a common feature on lunch menus, but it is positively magical when done well.  Chef Shetice works her magic with a smoked turkey club sandwich, with tomato, pesto mayonnaise, thick cut bacon, and alfalfa sprouts, all on a roll.

***Grilled meat is one of the most anticipated smells of the year when the weather turns warm.  At Campus House, grilled flank steak fits the bill.  This tender and tasty “London Broil” cut of beef is paired with savory broccoli rabe, orechiette (little ear-shaped) pasta, roasted garlic, and smoked blue cheese.

***A fresh blueberry salad celebrates the season with field greens, toasted pecans, shaved fennel, pepper jack cheese, and a tangy honey vinaigrette.  Grilled chicken or shrimp is available on the salad as well.

***Savvy diners wait all year for certain seasonal specialties.  Some foods are so short-lived, they demand to be enjoyed only at their peak of freshness and availability.  Right now is just that time for soft shelled crab.  Campus House celebrates this delicacy by crusting the crab with panko, sautéing it until crispy, and serving it with red beans and rice, mustard aioli, and a creole coleslaw.

We hope to see you soon at Campus House, where you will receive world-class service.

Lunch Specials for April 28-May 2

 In this final stretch of the school year, deadlines loom closer and time runs short for everyone.  Come on over to Campus House and enjoy some sublime springtime cheer and meals, guaranteed to keep busy brains well-fueled.

***Sandwiches are the most iconic, if ordinary, lunchtime food.  Chef Shetice elevates the humble status of the sandwich by pairing grilled and marinated portabella mushroom bruschetta with goat cheese and arugula on grilled sourdough.

***The featured soup
 of the week is chicken tortilla soup.  Guests may also choose vegan and gluten-free roasted onion soup.

***Diners looking for a real lunchtime treat can enjoy a classic presentation of Veal Picatta, complete with a lemon, herb & caper butter sauce.  The veal is pounded thin, breaded, and sautéed, then served with a wild rice pilaf and fresh green beans

***If the urge hits to eat more green, chances are good that spring has truly arrived. Satiate that healthy desire with a warm Brussels sprout salad, with baby spinach, red onion, hard boiled egg, and Asiago cheese.  The salad is tossed with a warm, sweet, and smoky sherry bacon vinaigrette.  Guests can have the dish topped with grilled chicken or shrimp for an additional charge.

***Pan seared salmon cakes, served with mango dressed greens and a lemon dill remoulade, make a perfect lovely springtime lunch.

We hope to see you soon at Campus House, where you will experience world-class service.

Buffalo’s own Cherry Blossom Festival

Springtime ushers in the season of celebration in Buffalo, and the city is proud to host its first annual Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival all this week.  Cherry blossoms have long been revered by the Japanese for their fragrance, exquisite beauty, and, perhaps most of all, for their symbolism of a life well lived.  Cherry blossoms fall from the tree unwithered, carrying their precious splendor to the Earth as they descend.  The result of a tree shedding its flowers is a glorious quilt of pinks, reds, and whites on the ground below.  It is said that it is a very lucky person indeed who is able to end his or her own existence on such a positive note.

Buffalo’s twelve-day celebration of cherry blossoms runs from April 23 to May 4.  Many of the festival events are taking place at or behind the Buffalo History Museum, on the lake side of the museum, by the Japanese Gardens.  Buffalo State College and Campus House were gladly involved with the Festival, hosting a Japanese food and sake tasting on April 28.

The tasting began with an offering of traditional Japanese matcha tea, a finely ground, extremely high quality green tea leaf.  Buffalo State College alumnus Atsuko Mishida-Mitchell, clad in traditional Japanese garb, prepared the tea, and offered tastes alongside a mochi dumpling – a classic Japanese sweet of glutinous rice dough wrapped around a sweetened red bean filling.  She explained that the bitterness of the tea must be tempered with something sweet.  Japanese cuisine customs are heavily based on this type of taste balance.

Green Tea and Mochi Dumplings

Balance was also a key component of the Japanese food demonstration, lead by Mike Andrzejewski, local chef and owner of Seabar, Cantina Loco, and Mike A’s at the Lafayette.  Campus House transformed one of its dining rooms into a culinary lecture hall as Chef Andrzejewski demonstrated his interpretation of traditional Japanese dishes for event guests.  He first talked a bit about the sushi and fresh seafood tradition in Japan, then showed how to make chirashi sushi – what he deemed “workingman’s sushi” – typical of Japanese fisherman utilizing the day’s catch.    

Chirashi Sushi

Chef Andrzejewski then challenged the tastebuds of guests with a savory warm custard, called chawan mushi -- shot through with ginger, shrimp, and mushrooms.   Combining the delicate wobbly texture of a perfectly cooked crème brulee with the flavors of dashi (Japanese seafood stock), the custard was a delicious and unusual foray into Japanese cuisine that left guests pleasantly surprised and delighted.

Chawan Mushi

Teriyaki Chicken Skewers

The Japanese cuisine demo also included lacquered teriyaki chicken skewers and a food discussion that touched on the culinary history of Japan, as well as an introduction to classic plating techniques and cooking tools.  In addition, the evening featured a chopstick demonstration and a retail area for Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival calligraphy prints and souvenirs.  

A sake tasting, lead by Buffalo State College alumnus and fine wine sales representative, Rob Kohout, was the perfect complement to the cuisine.  Rob gave guests a primer on the finer points of sake, touching on the five primary rice wine types and their characteristic flavors.

Rob discusses Japanese rice wine

Campus House was happy to support the Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival in its celebration of the glory and bounty of spring, taking a few cues from the immensely popular Washington DC National Cherry Blossom Festival.  We hope to see you soon at Campus House, where you will receive world-class service.