Students who ate at The 5 Wednesday night had the chance to sample dishes prepared by cooks students don’t usually find behind the stove at last night’s Chef’s Challenge, sponsored by LSU Dining.
The annual challenge features food made by LSU Dining personnel who are not typically in charge of everyday dining options.
From 4:30-8 p.m., students ate and voted on dishes from competing teams representing kitchens from The 459 Commons, The 5 and the LSU Student Union.
The idea for the Chef’s Challenge came about in the ’90s when Chartwells Higher Education took over LSU Dining, said 459 Commons Executive Chef Laurence Landon.
“It basically formed so our associates, not just the executive or head chefs, but some of our other workers, get a chance to have some fun and shine,” Landon said. “It just helps the overall morale in the kitchen and also gives the students a few different dishes and some fun as well.”
Local green tomatoes — the night’s main ingredient — were included in all competing dishes, which included cornflake-crusted green tomatoes with sweet corn salsa, shrimp-stuffed green tomatoes with bacon and feta, and green tomato-infused churros with mole sauce.
Landon said the teams like to get competitive with one another to stay in the spirit of the challenge.
“Everyone’s keeping [their dishes] a secret to keep it a little more fun,” Landon said.
The 5 sous chef Treva Johnson said her favorite part of the event was working with her colleagues to come up with a creative dish.
“[My favorite part is] bouncing ideas off of other people, trying to figure out what will take your creation to the next level,” Johnson said.
LSU Dining shipping and receiving supervisor Eric McCauley said he enjoyed seeing all the chefs bring their A game.
“[I like] the competition, I guess, the bragging rights,” McCauley said.
The winning team will receive a “championship belt,” Landon said, to display at the winning team’s building.
Kinesiology freshman Brooke Fontenot said she enjoyed the food more than LSU’s usual food offerings.
“The food was definitely better quality, and there was more options, for sure,” Fontenot said.