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.

2014 Hospitality Ambassador Awards

The hospitality and tourism industry is in constant flux, trying to delicately balance the use of new technologies with the good old-fashioned warmth and generosity needed for success.  This past Wednesday, April 23, Buffalo State's Hospitality and Tourism Department honored three local industry professionals that provide strong models for the hospitality students striving to discover that fine balance.

Hospitality Ambassador Award winners Sue McCarthy (of Buffalo State’s Small Business Development Center), Mark Mistriner (of NCCC's Culinary Institute), and Sue Simms (of Wegmans) were each celebrated, and in turn, acknowledged the various hospitality institutions that helped them on their journey.  The night’t theme was Partners in Progress, and the honorees did not hesitate to invite others to share in their success.

 

Buffalo State Hospitality students were also awarded scholarships at the ceremony for their academic excellence and extracurricular contributions. Hospitality Department Award recipients were Alex Davis, Bonnie Lambert-Hall, and Raven Owusu.  In addition, the following students received scholarship awards from Pano’s – Courtney Anderson, Jaret Bebe, Troy Benson, Jamie Blumrick, Christine Marcusa, and Brian Dechenes.  Matthew Pfieffer was awareded the Hart Award – Congratulations to all!

Professor Kathleen O'Brien congratulates student winners

To extend the night’s festive atmosphere, Hospitality students, assisted by department faculty, displayed their knowledge and talents by sharing delicious international cuisine and drink pairings with award winners and guests alike at Campus House.  The student event planners chose to showcase areas in Buffalo that are also showing signs of progress, to mirror the event theme.   Each dish served was paired with a Buffalo landmark or locale, giving the event a historical, informative, and very relevant feel.

Buffalo's story told in pictures

Photos depict Downtown Buffalo in days gone by

Canalside was represented by Buffalo-style calamari with Maytag blue cheese dipping sauce, paired with Southern Tier Eurotrash Pils beer.

Campus House students man the eastside-themed station

The eastside’s venerable institutions, Central Terminal and the Broadway Market, were highlighted with Golabkis (Polish beef, rice, and cabbage rolls), paired with a housemade bloody mary, dubbed the “Broadway Market Mary.”

Student server Solandra pours an Italian red

Hertel Avenue’s growth was exhibited through a live pasta creation station, manned by student cooks, featuring a variety of sauces, proteins, and veggies for a very personalized experience.  Depending on the sauce choice, guests could select either a Montepulciano or Verdicchio wine to enjoy alongside.

Students Denise and Yasmin create Hertel Avenue-worthy pasta dishes

Buffalo is aggressively “carving up Downtown,” so to demonstrate Downtown’s deconstruction and new construction, students offered a carved prime rib station, paired with a Hess Collection wine.

Carver extraordinaire -- student Kenny Armstrong 

The Electric Tower has seen renovation and renewed interest, so in the top floor of Campus House, the building was celebrated through desserts, including chocolate dipped strawberries, various cheesecakes, loganberry sorbet, and a live crepe station.  A selection of dessert wines accompanied the sweet finales to the evening.

 

In addition to the aforementioned feast, a variety of hors d’oeuvres were passed, including goat cheese, date & fig crostinis, mini crab cakes with lobster corn aioli, and lamb lollypops with mint pesto.

Campus House was the proud host of the awards reception.  The students working to plan the event put in many hours creating the food and decorations, and planning the logistical details necessary to make the 20^th anniversary Ambassador Awards memorable for all.   Students responsible for planning and creating the 2014 Ambassador Awards were Paula Pazyck (student manager), Rose Syso, Katie Zwara, Joanna Boutin, Claire Perrot, Ilyana Feliz, Kristina Burley, Solandra Payamps, and Jacqueline Frost.

The Campus House foyer gets re-mapped

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

Lunch Specials for April 21-25

With less than a month left of the spring 2014 semester, time for faculty, staff, and students alike seems to be racing at warp speed.  Campus House suggests slowing down for just a little while and relishing a relaxing lunch with us.  With weekly features like these, a meal begs to be enjoyed at leisure.

***This week’s soup feature is Beef Stroganoff Soup with rice and chives.  Diners can also enjoy gluten-free corn chowder.

***We should all channel a little more laid-back Caribbean frame of mind this time of year.  Chef Shetice makes this easy with her Jamaican Jerk Chicken Sandwich, topped with a pineapple raisin slaw and cilantro mayonnaise on a Costanzo roll.

***Some dishes, no matter how many times one enjoys them, never fail to delight.  A perfect example of this is the iconic Stuffed Banana Peppers, done Campus House-style with Italian sausage and cheese stuffing, served with dressed greens, crusty bread and marinara sauce.

***A truly classic combination -- Prosciutto and Melon – gets a fabulous springtime treatment as a salad with cantaloupe, arugula, red onion, toasted pine nuts, and shaved Pecorino Romano.  This combinations is tossed with white balsamic vinaigrette and finished with a sweet and tangy balsamic reduction.  Diners may choose to top the salad with grilled chicken or grilled shrimp for an additional charge.

***The San Francisco bay is closer than we think when feasting on a west coast seafood classic -- Cioppino.   This timeless seafood stew features mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, and fresh fish – all simmered together in a white wine, tomato and fennel broth.  Cioppino is served with crusty bread for dunking in every last bit of the sweet aromatic juices.

***Desserts to tempt the fancy this week are chocolate bread pudding and cannolis.

** Campus House will close at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 

April 23rd for our annual Ambassador Awards**

We hope to see you soon at Campus House, where you will experience world-class service.  Please join us for the following upcoming events Campus House…

Campus House is excited to host the annual Hospitality Ambassador Awards for its 20th year.  This year's Awards gala will highlight the progress of both the hospitality and tourism industry as well as the progress of our city.  Three local "ambassadors" will be honored, as well as a number of Hospitality student scholarship awardees

The ceremony will be held at the Burchfield Penney Art Center at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23.  A grand reception will follow at Campus House.

Tickets for the Ambassador Awards are $40 per person, available by calling Campus House at (716) 878-3300 or by emailing Campus House at 

campushouse@buffalostate.edu

**************

You Are Cordially Invited to

the Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival's

Japanese Cuisine and Sake Tasting

 Monday, April 28th 5:30 pm

Campus House

***Featuring an offering of

special green tea by Buffalo Tea Ceremony

instructor Atsuko Nishida-Mitchell

***Chef and local restaurant owner Mike Andrzejewski 

will offer interpretations of Japanese cuisine.

***Rob Kohout, Buffalo State alumnus and 

fine wine and spirits sales representative, 

will also lead discussions about Japanese rice wines.

  

Tickets for the Japanese cuisine and sake tasting are $50 per person, available by 

calling Campus House at (716) 878-3300 or by emailing Campus House at 

campushouse@buffalostate.edu