Michigan Dining’s executive chef, Frank Turchan, and his team prepared many of the meals for attendees during FoodService Director’s second annual Culinary Council Summit, held in early October. The final multicourse dinner took place at Maizie’s Kitchen & Market, a new venue that is part of the Marketplace in the Michigan League, a campus building built in 1929.
The Marketplace, which was carved out of a former study hall, offers hot meal service and a grab-and-go section featuring bento boxes, charcuterie boards and meal kits customers can take home for dinner. There’s also Maizie’s, which Michigan Dining hopes to rent out for private parties, and a space called Local Plate for area restaurants to populate with pop-ups. “The latter not only grows the gown-to-town relationship—it’s a profit center that Michigan Dining doesn’t have to operate,” says Steve Mangan, senior director of Michigan Dining.
During the Summit, chef Turchan and his team prepared several breakfasts and lunches at the University’s South Quad dining hall, where daytime presentations, ideation sessions and team cooking events took place. Attendees were treated to variations of avocado toast, a green mole tamale bowl and red carnitas torta using Avocados from Mexico; a walking banh mi featuring Korean barbecue beef from Hormel as well as the company’s new breakfast shoulder bacon; and blended burger sliders using chopped fresh mushrooms from The Mushroom Council.