Campus House bar training

Frequent restaurant-goers seek out the beverage programs at establishments that can truly enhance their dining experience -- by ten-fold if done well.  A great dish, paired with an exquisite wine can make the whole meal sing.  For those of us that long to start a meal with something stiff, sometimes the absolute best appetizer is a perfect sip of Manhattan or martini.

A selection of Campus House Vodkas and Gins

Campus House knows this well and takes full advantage of the opportunity to train its students in the finer points of beverage service.  Unfortunately, far too many servers, bartenders, cooks, and managers in the hospitality industry learn bar skills exclusively on the job, including all of the bad habits that are easy to acquire.  In its efforts to produce the highest quality of hospitality professionals, Campus House and the Buffalo State College Hospitality program want to give students all of the training and tools necessary to be consummate professionals, especially in the arena of drinks.

Campus House uses a variety of traditional glasses

As a society, American diners are becoming more savvy every year, expanding their knowledge of fine wines, demanding higher quality beers, and yearning for skillfully made and expertly crafted cocktails.  The Hospitality program here is rising to the challenge and meeting those needs with ever-expanding wine, beer, and mixology training for students. 

Campus House offers many fine rums and tequilas

First and foremost, the student servers at Campus House receive the opportunity work shifts behind the club bar, so they can understand the basic flow and attention-to-detail rigors that bartending requires.  Campus House strives to stock its bar with high-end, sometimes unusual, and always high-quality beverages, so students get the crème de la crème bar ingredients to work with and learn from.  Beyond the day-to-day bar service at the club, students are also crucially involved in wine, beer, and liquor selection and service at the various specials events and themed dinners hosted by Campus House and the Hospitality program, so their bar exposure is varied and dynamic.

Manager and instructor Josh Blumberg teaches students about wine

In addition to this on-the-job bar training in the learning labs, Campus House students are actively involved in mini-seminars, lead by Campus House managers Josh Blumberg and Krista Constantino, the resident beer and wine expert and cocktail extraordinaire, respectively.  Students learn the proper names and procedures for stemware, drink glasses, and bar tools.  They are given background on the wine or beverage du jour, allowing them to formulate talking points for guests.  They are shown correct procedures for wine and beer pouring; the best techniques for drink mixing; and the right way to suggest food and beverage pairings.  Most importantly, students gain the confidence to speak intelligently about beer, wine, and liquor in a multitude of situations.

Campus House manager Krista demonstrates proper cocktail mixing

For those students who wish to delve deeper into the growing field of oenology (the study of wine and wine making), a wine-specific HTR 335 Wine Essentials, taught by Campus House manager and instructor Josh Blumberg, is also offered through the Hospitality department -- where students get to expand their tasting, pairing, and wine speak knowledge.  In addition, various bar service skills are touched upon in a number of other Hospitality lab and lecture classes.  These skills run the gamut from the history of beer and wine to dram shop laws for responsible liquor service (including a bar service certification called TIPS).

Josh goes into the finer points of a wine service

We hope to see you soon at Campus House, where you will receive, not only world-class service, but world-class drinks as well!

We also hope to see you at our 20^th annual Hospitality Ambassador Awards.  This year’s celebration of Hospitality industry professionals will take place at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, followed by a gourmet reception at Campus House.  Please join us for this year’s festivities!  We are celebrating progress in both the hospitality industry and progress in the ever-changing Buffalo cityscape.  Please call Campus House at (716) 878-3300 for more details.

Join us for the Ambassador Awards!

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.  The menu for the event will celebrate areas and landmarks in Buffalo that represent both the past and the future of our great city.   The Ambassador Awards will showcase the changing landscapes of Canalside and the Waterfront, Downtown Buffalo and the Electric Tower, Hertel Avenue, and the eastside Central Terminal and Broadway Market.

Each district or area will have a corresponding dish (or multiple dishes!) with paired drinks for each available at various stations throughout Campus House.  The student staff at Campus House, in both the kitchen and dining room, are looking forward to presenting the following:

*Passed appetizers (paired with Cuvee 61 Brut champagne and Lacrima de Morro d'Alba) 
        *Goat cheese, date, and fig crostinis
        *Mini crab cakes, topped with lobster corn aioli
        *Lamb lollypops with mint pesto

*Carving station for Downtown Buffalo (paired with Hess Collection Mount Veeder 19 Block Cuvee)
        *Prime rib roast with rolls, horseradish, and au jus

*Build-you-own pasta station for Hertel Avenue (paired with a white and red wines - Verdicchio del Castelli and Montelpulciano d'Abruzzo)
        *Live pasta creation with choice of marinara, arugula basil pesto or parmesan cream
          and a variety of vegetables and proteins

*Seafood station for Canalside/Waterfront development (paired with Southern Tier Eurotrash Pils)
        *Buffalo-style breaded calamari with Maytag blue cheese dipping sauce

*Eastside favorite station for Central Terminal & Broadway Market (paired with J. Wilkes Pinot Blanc)
        *Traditional beef & rice stuffed golabki (Polish cabbage rolls)

*Dessert station for the Electric Tower (paired with Kracher Auslese Cuvee and Fonseca Bin 27)
        *Live crepe station
        *Assorted mini cheesecakes
        *Loganberry sorbet
        *Chocolate-dipped strawberries

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

For more information on the event, please check out our previous blog posts:

An Ambassador Awards Invitation
and
Ambassador Awards Preview

We hope to see you at Campus House on Wednesday, April 23, for our 20th anniversary Hospitality Ambassador Awards, where you will receive world-class service.

Lunch Specials April 14-18

As the school year draws closer to the end, spring fever inevitably sets in.  Spring fever at Campus House means a mad dash to pack in as many flavorful (and gorgeous!) specials as possible so guests and students can receive maximum exposure to the wonderful bounty that springtime brings.

***The current soup special is a perennial favorite, beans and greens.  This soup brings together white beans and chorizo sausage in chicken broth, and is crowned with grated asiago cheese.  The vegan and gluten-free soup option is tomato and wild rice soup.

***This week’s sandwich special is the southern California diner classic patty melt, done up right for Campus House with an Angus burger, topped with caramelized onion, Swiss cheese, Russian dressing, all on grilled rye bread.

***A half rack’s worth of lamb chops are grilled and nestled on a spinach salad, including red onion, grape tomatoes, sweet peppers, grilled bread, and feta cheese.  The salad is tossed with a herb shallot vinaigrette, perfectly complementing the rosemary and garlic-marinated lamb.

***As Dingus day looms closer, everyone seems to crave pierogis this time of year.  Chef Shetice serves her potato pierogis with caramelized red onion, sour cream, and a final delicious flourish – sage brown butter.  Diners may choose to add grilled chicken or shrimp for a supplementary charge.

***Ahi (high sushi grade tuna) is coated with sesame seeds, seared to a beautiful ruby rare, and served with a spicy Asian cabbage slaw with jasmine rice.  This dish gets the sweet soy treatment and a sushi-inspired shredded nori garnish.

We hope these weekly delights sound as good to you as they do to us!  Please join us soon at Campus House, where you will receive world-class service. 

Don’t forget, the 20^th annual Hospitality Ambassador Awards are fast approaching, as the students and staff of Campus House are looking forward to putting on a good show and great reception for members, guests, and Ambassador Award recipients.  This yearly celebration of industry professionals is often the highlight of the year for hospitality students and Campus House guests alike.  Please join us for this year’s festivities!  We are celebrating progress in both the hospitality industry and progress in the ever-changing Buffalo cityscape.  Please call Campus House at (716) 878-3300 for more details.

Tapas, Picada & Piattini wine event

Among the fastest growing trends in American restaurants is the “small plate” phenomenon.  This style of eating and dining focuses on very diminutive portions, served on the aforementioned small plates, to increase the variety of foods tried at a single meal.  This is a boon to diners who love to pick and choose lots of appetizers, which are often the most inventive and interesting dishes at restaurants.   Typically small-plate style portions are even teenier than appetizers – offering only two to three bites to tempt the palate.

Campus House wanted to bring the enjoyment of this growing small plates trend to their Buffalo State College audience and hosted their “Tapas, Picada & Piattini” event on Friday, April 11.  The name of the event draws on the names for small plates from various countries whose foods were featured.  The most commonly recognizable name is tapas – the small plates of Spain – where the experience of tiny plates has been a cultural mainstay for many generations.  Legend has it that bar-goers used plates to cover their wine glasses and shield their drinks from flies.  Ingenious restaurateurs began selling food to sit on these drink toppers and, hence, tapas were born.

 

American wine and small plates 

Campus House students planning this event wanted to showcase the unique small-plate eating style as well as some great wines paired with each country’s chosen dish.  The countries featured were Spain (naturally!), France, Italy, and America.  Food preparation students working in the kitchen with Chef Shetice Williams dreamed up small dishes famous in each country.  Senior Hospitality students, working at Campus House as servers, researched and created brochures for each country’s wine and food pairing.

Student-produced wine brochures for the event

This event was unique in that the student servers had to not only be polished and professional hosts and servers at this Friday night social event, but they had to be virtual experts on their chosen country as well -- explaining the food, describing the paired wine, and giving background on the small plates tradition in their country.  The student manager for the event was Rebecca Weiss.  The event concierge, welcoming guests and giving small-plate primers for first-timers, was Samantha Alexandre.  Student servers and small-plate extraordinaires were Jason Schmidle (France), Ashley Hill (Italy), Nicole Mokhiber (USA), and Carol Reyes (Spain).  Each student chose their role or country and had a great spiel to “sell” their particular wine.

 

Samantha welcomes guests with a smile

France’s featured small dish was pan-fried smelt with lemon butter.  Smelt is a highly underrated seasonal delight in this country, but – as with most tiny, oily fish – is highly esteemed in France, as well as Europe in general.   The crunchy smelt were paired with a refreshing Rose wine, whose light acidity nicely cut through the richness of the smelt.

 

Jason offers a French Rose

Spain is the land of rich and delicious sausages, cheese, and olives.  A clean and crisp red Garnacha wine highlighted the aromatic valdeon and manchego cheeses and chorizo sausage featured.  These tasty bites are among the most iconic tapas – the original finger foods!

Carol shows off a Spanish Grenacha 

The featured wine of Italy was a lesser-known varietal called Verdicchio.  This fragrant and fresh white wine paired deliciously and seamlessly with a notoriously hard-to-match food -- artichokes -- in the Italian classic arancini or fried rice balls.

Ashley pours a Italian Verdicchio 

The United States wine matches were rather playful, pairing a California white Pinot Blanc with avocado and crab-stuffed California rolls.  Northern California Cabernet Sauvignon with Philly cheese steak sliders also made a fun combination.

 

Nicole with a California Cabernet Sauvignon

We look forward to seeing you soon at Campus House, where you can expect world-class service.  Our annual Hospitality Ambassador Awards are on Wednesday, April 23 – we hope to see you there for the event’s 20^th anniversary!

Weekly Specials April 7-11

Campus House celebrates the big spring thaw by hosting a number of great events in the next few weeks, but also by featuring some delicious weekly specials.

***The featured sandwich is a Tuscan grilled chicken breast sandwich, topped with a tangy mixture of artichokes, arugula, sundried tomatoes and Pecorino Romano.  This vibrant combination is crowned with melted mozzarella and served on a toasted Costanzo roll.

***The current soup is a frangrant and sweetly-spiced curried chicken soup, with wild rice, chickpeas, and scallions.  The gluten-free and vegan option is potato leek soup.

***Wild rice is the star of a light and beautiful salad with mandarin oranges, sliced almonds and dried cherries, tossed with a creamy apricot dressing, all served in a Bibb lettuce cup.  This salad can be topped with grilled chicken or shrimp for an additional charge.

***Grilled Mahi mahi is wrapped up in a fish burrito with cabbage slaw, chipotle pineapple avocado salsa and cilantro lime sour cream.  This fresh spring version of “fish and chips” is served with house made potato chips and a lime wedge.

***Sweet meets savory in Chef Shetice’s balsamic and goat cheese papardelle pasta with cremini mushrooms, red onion, tomatoes and arugula.  This pasta can be topped with grilled chicken or shrimp for an additional charge.

CampusHouse is looking forward to hosting a wine tasting this Friday, April 11, from 4-7 pm.  The theme is Tapas, Picada, and Peatinni – featuring wines and food from France, Italy, Spain, and America.  Please contact Campus House at (716) 878-3300 for reservations or more information.

In addition, Campus House invites members and guests alike to its 20^th annual Hospitality Ambassador Awards on Wednesday, April 23, at 5:30 pm at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, with a gourmet reception to follow at CampusHouse.

At any of these event, or even just for lunch, we look forward to seeing you soon at Campus House, where you will receive world-class service.

Chef Shetice coaches student cook Sara on salad preparation.