The Weekly Eater Nadine Kam

Cafeteria food for
UH dorm kids ain’t
what it used to be

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AS if there isn't enough to envy about today's youth, including more choices in music, better-looking clothes (no? can you say '80s?), abundant technology, and just plain youth, we can add one more thing to the list -- better dorm food.

I lived through the Saga Foods era of the late '70s and early '80s, and for those who lived in the University of Hawaii at Manoa dormitories, that meant a whole lot of non-descript meals -- oh, it all comes back to me now, the S.O.S., the turkey a la king -- your basic gruels, plus the roach in the guava machine which ultimately brushed my lip.

If there was any consolation in this, I ate only enough to survive, with no fear of the "Freshman 15," referring to the pounds dorm freshmen are said to gain due to free access to food. In fact, I dropped 15 pounds and met a cute guy who always dined at the same time.

But that was then ... Sodexho is now. What happened was that Saga was swallowed by Marriott, in turned bought out by Sodexho, and just this year the company rolled out some new ideas at the Campus Center Cafeteria, now dubbed Kahea Ai Cafe. Reflecting the real world of abundance kids are accustomed to thanks to shopping malls, the cafeteria is now a food court, where stations have names and themes such as a Tsunami Sushi Bar where students can pick up packaged California rolls, rainbow rolls or nigiri sushi. I picked up the Marina plate ($8.19) featuring salmon, eel, amaebi, ahi and hamachi nigiri that are the equivalent to regular sushi bar offerings.

Meanwhile, at the 155° Grill, you can still pick up a burger, but it's cooked to order, and if beef is not your thing, then you can order the Cajun portobello ($6.50), which is coated in spicy cornmeal and fried for a sandwich that reminded me of New Orleans oyster po' boys.

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DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Dino Amorin cooks up a batch of stir-fried orange chicken at the Hale Aloha Dormitory cafeteria, which serves about 1,500 lunches daily.

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They've also got Flash in the Pan stir fries; Good to Go takeout sandwiches, salads and desserts; Center of the Plate hot entrees; and Tossed Around Pastas, sometimes heavier on cream than is healthy or necessary, but if I were a student today I wouldn't be complaining. What's cool is it's all recognizable as food. There's no mystery meat to worry about, and every effort is made to provide nutrition information for students who've made the connection between diet and long-term health.

WHILE LOOKING into campus food, I discovered there's nothing to stop community members from joining the food fest at Hale Aloha, which serves about 1,200 to 1,300 nightly -- at times moving more food than any of Waikiki's hotels. For the quantity-oriented, the dorm buffet is hard to beat. At Hale Aloha, non-students pay $7.40 for buffet dinners Mondays to Fridays, except Thursdays, which is steak night, with an admission of $9.05. A ticket handed out at the door can be used for one of their special entrees, which might be the grilled steak or salmon stuffed with a seafood, mayo and vegetable filling.

Both were dry, with the salmon faring better than the steak -- this is, after all, still a cafeteria and Hale Aloha Food Service Director Kevin Wada says 10 minutes of sitting will do that to a dish -- but I couldn't help thinking that I sure wasn't getting that kind of food at home when I was 18, and I'm sure even these kids today are probably eating more richly than their parents. Life can be unfair, I know.

Because it's a buffet, students can also stack their plates with such daily menu items as pizzas by the slice, pastas, quesadillas, steamed and fresh vegetables and fruit, a salad bar, and to end it all, a dessert bar of cakes, pies, Jell-O and ice cream with a choice of toppings and sprinkles. And for some reason, a lot of cereal, because staffers say students want it 24/7.

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DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Ornamental streetlights are part of the decor.

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Wada, who remembers Saga Foods, said back then the attitude was "Feed the masses, get 'em in and out as cheaply as possible. The difference now is students are more knowledgeable about food because of better communications, Food Network, the Internet. Back then we didn't know what nutrition was, nor did we care."

These days managers patrol the floor looking for input. Wada said students are most likely to offer little suggestions, such as adding ice cream flavors or different brands of cereal. "Once in a while someone asks for lobster," he laughs. " You know that's not going to happen."

Even so, dorm food has come a long way. If I were starting school today, I'd likely be packing the Freshman 30.

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Hale Aloha dormitory 2575 Dole St. / 956-6357 Food Service Ambience Value Hours: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays, 4:30 to 9 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, to 8 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, 5 to 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, to 8 p.m. Sundays Cost: Lunch $6.05, dinner $7.40 except Thursday steak nights, when it is $9.05

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See some past restaurant reviews in the Columnists section.

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Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:

	excellent;
	very good, exceeds expectations;
	average;
	below average.

To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com

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