S&C Menu This Week

Before the menu, here is a message sent out by the stewards:

Hi All,

Here is the menu for this week. Just a few notes we would like to add, to make your dining experience more pleasant.

As many of you know, there is often a mob of people at our door. Once you have ordered a to go, or given your name to sit down, we would appreciate it if you would stand away from the doorway. We promise we will call your name out loudly, so you won't miss your food or lose your spot in line to sit.

Similarly, please do not take S&C mugs out of the restaurant. Once you are seated, you are welcome to go and get a cup of tea or cocoa, however you may not do so before that (aka no tea/cocoa while you are waiting to sit). We have had a multitude of mugs stolen in the past two weeks. If you forgot to put one back, please return it! We'll just say thank you.

Thanks,
The Stewards
[emphasis added]

Feb 23rd - Monday

Dinner – Green Salad, Orange Ginger vin., Soy-Honey Chicken/Tofu, Horse radish scallion Mash, Mix veg.
Dessert – Ginger Spice cake

Feb. 24th - Tuesday

Lunch – Broccoli Rigatoni, salad w/ roasted Garlic oil and Parm, Grilled Chicken/Tofu
Dessert – Yogurt, Fruit, Granola

Dinner – Green Salad, Cilantro Dressing, Shrimp Mexicana /Tofu, Rice, Refried Beans
Dessert – Chocolate Cake

Feb. 25th - Wednesday

Lunch – Flank Steak/Veggie Quesadillas, fresh Salsa and Sour Cream,
Dessert – Fresh Fruit

Dinner – Green salad, Curry dressing, Jerk Chicken/Tofu, Red Beans and Rice, Greens
Dessert – Cinnamon Pound Cake

Feb. 26th - Thursday

Lunch – Butternut Squash Bisque with Cheesy Foccacia
Dessert – Trail Mix Bars

Dinner – Green Salad, Red Wine vin., Puerto Rican Rice and Beans with Chicken or Tofu
Dessert- Mango Yogurt

Fine Dining at Schools That Aren't Wesleyan

NYTimes does a feature on colleges which draw in students with delicious dining menus - pictured above is one of Virginia Tech's dining halls - chandeliers! Does Star and Crescent have that many chandeliers? Clearly chandeliers are a mark of a superior dining facility.

Here is what looks like a fancy version of WesWings at Virginia Tech:

Bowdoin is the star attraction in the article, but Wesleyan gets cited for its commitment to organic food:

Food was definitely on Jenna Gruer’s agenda last fall as she visited colleges coast to coast. Jenna, an 18-year-old vegetarian from St. Louis, Mo., was particularly impressed by Wesleyan University.

“I heard a lot about organic food co-ops and the little organic store where you can use your dining card, and those things are important to me,” she said of its offerings.

Food alone might not be a reason to apply, she said, but it might eliminate colleges with lesser dining halls.

Great, organic food, but I can't help being a little disappointed by a typically lackluster Salisbury steak from the Usdan Classics bar when I see meat like this available elsewhere:Full article: Latest College Reading Lists: Menus With Pho and Lobster

MSG Secrets Revealed

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) has the common stigma of being this insidious food additive that makes otherwise unremarkable food delicious... but also somehow slowly kills you. For years since Chinese food became a takeout dietary staple, people have complained of feeling the effects of "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome", which vaguely includes headache, flushing, and sweating, after eating at Chinese restaurants.

It turns out there's never actually been evidence linking MSG use to long-term negative effects, and the whole issue came from a spurious few isolated cases blown way out of proportion in the '70s - as explained in this article about why MSG is not that bad.

MSG was discovered in 1908 by a Japanese scientist, and was used as a common flavor enhancer and preservative in the Western hemisphere since the 1950s. However, it was tagged as a toxin when a doctor complained in the New England Journal of Medicine that he always felt sick after eating American Chinese food and decided that the MSG commonly used to flavor it must be to blame. This report blew up and started a health scare, and MSG use was driven underground by a paranoid public which demanded that its takeout be MSG-free.

But most restaurants kept using at least a little bit to flavor food, and many still continue to.

The active ingredient in MSG is glutamate, a neurotransmitter responsible for the "fifth flavor", umami, which translates most closely as savory. Foods like meat, shellfish, cheese, egg yolks, shiitake mushrooms, and nori seaweed in sushi all have naturally high umami levels, as do ketchup and ramen noodles.

Respectable scientists say that glutamate is “just like salt and sugar, it exists in nature, it tastes good at normal levels, but large amounts at high concentrations taste strange and aren’t that good for you.” So feeling sick after eating a lot of takeout is comparable to eating a lot of donuts or a lot of salt & vinegar potato chips in one sitting.

Goldfish crackers, Pringles, and Doritos all contain MSG, and MSG-related protein concentrates are found in everything from ice cream, canned tuna, canned soups, and pretty much anything cheese- or ranch-flavored. And of course, many chefs (especially in Asian cuisines) continue to use at least a little MSG flavoring.

So next time you're eating an especially delicious Drunken Noodle at Typhoon or General Tso's Chicken from any takeout place in America, know that it's probably the MSG making the tastebuds benignly explode in your mouth.

[EDIT: Typhoon does display an "MSG-Free" sign, but that drunken noodle is almost unnaturally delicious (not that I'm complaining):

"Maggi sauce (there are various other Maggi products, not all of which contain MSG) is extremely popular in regions as far-flung as India, Mexico, the Philippines and the Ivory Coast. One of Thailand’s favorite late-night street foods, pad kee mao, or drunkard’s noodles, relies on its sweet-salty-meaty taste; the Malaysian version is called Maggi goreng."]

This week at the S&C

This week's delicious menu:

Monday, Jan. 28th
Dinner – Green Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, Roasted Chicken or Tofu, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Maple Glazed Carrots, savory Shallot Sauce. Dessert is Cinnamon Pound Cake.

Tuesday, Jan. 29th
Lunch – Southwestern Frittata with or without Bacon and Homefries. Dessert is Peanut Butter Cookies.
Dinner – Green Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette, Penne with Beef and Italian Sausage Ragu or Tofu Marinara baked with fresh Mozzarella. Dessert is Strawberry Cheese Cake.

Wednesday, Jan. 30th
Lunch – Verde Enchiladas with Grilled Chicken or Tofu. Dessert is Mango Yogurt.
Dinner – Green Salad with Tomato Saffron Vinaigrette, Cajun Shepard’s Pie traditional style or with Tofu. Dessert is Double Chocolate Cake.

Thursday, Jan. 31st
Lunch – Penne Pesto with Grilled Chicken or Tofu. Dessert is Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.
Dinner – Green Salad with Curry Dressing, Navratan Korma with Chicken or Tofu, Basmati Rice. Dessert is Banana Cake.