All About Lunch at Blake

Senior shares his reasons to love lunch at Café Blake

James Thornton
Contributing Writer

Lunch is a central part of the collective weekday experience here at the Blake school. Over the summer, I worked at Lunds grocery and then traveled to France, the culinary capital of the world. The reason I mention this is not solely to impress the gourmets here at Northrup but to talk about the Blake school lunch program.

As we gather over a warm meal together, we can a step back from the chaos that can mark our beloved Northrup. The numerous daily meal options, truly healthful qualities and delicious taste of the food make our program exceptional, especially when compared to the horrific descriptions of the widely feared public school lunch. This is not to mention the incredible staff here at Blake, who not only make our meals everyday but also go out of their way to be extraordinarily friendly and helpful.

 At the core of lunch is first and foremost the food. However accomplished a staff might be, whatever the nutrition of a meal, it is all for naught if the elements of a fine meal are overlooked. These include aesthetic presentation, balance within the dish, proper cooking of the ingredients, purposeful texture and of course overall taste.

The challenge of fine cooking becomes apparent when one considers the gravity each individual item on this long list can have on a meals success or failure. This is the unique difficulty of preparing food, especially considering our chefs do it day after day, changing the menu constantly to keep it exciting.

Evidence is central to convincing any audience here at Blake, so prepare for a veritable highlight reel of our chef's cooking prowess, as I take you into the best of Blake lunch.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Tartine. Deceptively simple, this dense, open faced sandwich will have you leaping out of your seat for seconds as soon as you taste it. A foundation of bread houses a layer of boneless chicken topped with Swiss cheese. It simply doesn't need anything else.

The Jamaican Style Corned Beef, authenticated with real sweet fried plantains and a side of saffron rice, is a newcomer to this list. The balance made between the delicate yet flavorful saffron rice, thickly cut salty corned beef and soft sweet plantains creates a memorable meal that is not often seen here in the United States; certainly not in any other school lunch program.

The Tamale bake is a new take on a classic Mexican dish, with a smoky spice that warms you as its hearty texture quickly satisfies the most ravenous of appetites. It is covered casserole-style with a thick layer of corn bread, which blankets the underlying taco-style beef that gives the meal its flavor. It is serious comfort food, a perfect game day meal.

So Upperclassmen, do we really need to eat out every day with such delicious (and prepaid) meals? And Underclassmen, should you really eat the same boring pizza every day? I urge you all, take some initiative and taste what the chefs at Café Blake have to offer. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Original Article:

http://issuu.com/blakespectrum/docs/september_2011