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The Rice Thresher
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by Susan Abramski thresher staff Three weeks into his new job as Baker College managing chef, Charles Jenkins says he will continue to diversify the food selection for Baker students, especially concentrating on vegetarian options. Jenkins replaced Jason Molloy, who was fired after spray-painting the Baker servery last month. Jenkins, a member of the Texas Chef's Association, said that he concentrated on the vegetarian entrees during his first few weeks at Baker, but he will prepare dishes for all areas of the menu as he gets settled in. Food and Housing Director Mark Ditman said he expects Baker's food quality to improve dramatically. "We're frankly expecting the food to skyrocket," Ditman said. "The thing that we are looking for most here at Baker is the aggressive development of vegetarian or meatless items." Jenkins began at Rice in 1986 after serving as a cook in the military for almost four years. He has held positions on the Sid Richardson College, Hicks Kitchen and Rice Catering kitchen staffs. Ditman said he noticed the success of Rice Catering while Jenkins was employed there. During that period, Rice Catering began offering a range of more sophisticated foods, and he attributes much of the change to Jenkins. Jenkins said he is making changes based on feedback from students. "I try to feed a trend off of what the people want," Jenkins said. "I try to collect a lot of feedback about what the customer prefers. I see that the students love seafood and that they love chicken, things of that nature. So, I try to plan my menu according to what they like." Baker will continue to serve many of the foods it already offers, but Jenkins said he looks forward to introducing some new choices as well, including more ethnic dishes. Jenkins creates his own weekly menu for Baker, which is posted online at the F&H Web site (http://food.rice.edu/index.html), and all of the dishes he cooks are prepared on-site in the Baker facilities. Other dishes served at Baker are cooked at Hicks Kitchen. Jenkins said he also hopes to do more "on-the-spot cooking." "I think that when you prepare food in front of them, it opens up a whole new ballpark, so people have an idea of what goes on," he said. "I will try to be as creative as possible." Jenkins said he is enjoying the opportunity to return to the college environment and interact more with students. "I always want to be flexible to their needs," he said. Ditman said he is pleased with Jenkins' positive impact in the college's environment. "He's been at the university long enough that he really understands how to interact with students, faculty and associates," Ditman said. "I think it's very important in this situation that not only do you have culinary talent, but that you know how to support college programs and make decisions based on what best serves the students." One of the major changes that Jenkins will be involved in at Baker is the transition from central food preparation and distribution to on-site food preparation. "The objective is that by the end of the school year, Baker will run like a free-standing restaurant," Ditman said. Ditman said the Brown College kitchen is already 90 percent independent from Hicks Kitchen due to the addition of Chef Roger Elkhouri earlier this year. The Sid kitchen is also slated to operate independently from Hicks Kitchen by the end of this semester. Ditman said there will eventually be a chef in each servery preparing all food on-site. However, the current facilities in most of the colleges are inadequate. Baker's kitchen is the largest and can support the most food preparation. Jenkins will also be involved in upcoming physical modifications of the Baker servery. "The other thing [Jenkins] is responsible for is assisting in design development as we remodel the Baker kitchen/serving area," Ditman said. "And so he has a responsibility to give us input on pieces of equipment and menu items." The remodeling project is still in the planning stages. Funding has not yet been secured, but ideally construction would begin late next spring and continue through the summer, Ditman said. Jenkins said he has been responsible for about eight entrees a week so far, which might explain why the change has not yet become apparent to many students. "I kept hearing that we were going to start getting our own food like we did at the beginning of the semester, but it seems like we're still getting CK," Baker senior Kevin Lynch said. Baker junior Sanford Holmes said he noticed an improvement when Molloy was hired at the beginning of last semester, but he hadn't noticed a significant difference between Molloy's cooking and Jenkins' food. "We've had a chef since the beginning of the semester, and I've noticed that since then the food is fresher ... and more original," Holmes said.
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