ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It's not hard to see why the star of the University of Michigan's South Quadrangle $60 million renovation project is its new dining hall.
The state-of-the-art, centralized dining center underwent a complete overhaul and was the main focus of the renovation project, said Peter Logan, communications director for University Housing.
"This renovation takes our success to a whole other level and we just keep learning as we do these. Expectations and trends change, so it really articulates the whole micro-restaurant concept," he told The Ann Arbor News ( http://bit.ly/1qJpUSP ).
"This is not what folks anticipate as a residence hall cafeteria. This is anything but that."
That micro-restaurant concept comes to life through 10 different themed dining options for the students. The all-you-can-eat dining hall features a Mediterranean restaurant, an all-day breakfast bar, a vegan restaurant, a deli, a smokehouse, an Asian restaurant with a sushi chef, and other options.
Nearly all of the food is made to order — including the sushi, which is hand-rolled to order — and plated gourmet style by the chefs at each location.
For students with meal plan options, this is the first year that the school has switched over to its unlimited meal plans for all students with housing contracts. Those students can come and go and dine as often or as infrequently as they choose. The meal portion averages out to about $2,000 per semester, housing officials said.
"It's not one continuous line like the old cafeteria-style dining areas you're used to. It's a tray-less dining area. You'll see a lot of the preparation of the food is done right out in front of the students and a lot of it is done to order so a student can customize what they want. It provides a much better dining experience for them," Logan said.
"People can flow around and dine freely, and we've also created seating spaces that reflect the serving area around it. It has more of a restaurant feel to it."
Frank Turchan, the executive chef for Residential Dining Services, said that the tray-less dining and made-to-order options helps cut down on food waste, and that it helps to concentrate on portion sizes and plating, which also cuts down on waste.
He said that the university received a lot of feedback from the students about what they wanted to see in a new-age dining hall, and what types of dining options they wanted available to them.