Hot Lunch Strikes Back: DHS’ Under-Appreciated Diamond in the Rough
NEIRAD enilno edition
Everybody loves the Sub Shop. Everybody but me.
Some people like to wait in a long line to get the same old sandwich every single day. Same dry, oversized roll. Same five or six toppings. Same water, same cookie, same deal. No variety–nutritional or otherwise, and Chicken Cutlet Wednesdays don’t count.
I was already a Sub Shop sceptic this winter, but when I saw that the prices on a sandwich were hiking 50 cents this spring, my metamorphosis into a hater became complete. I was already loathe to shell out $5.00 towards a product I wasn’t fully sold on, but there is no way I am willing to blast through my budget spending $5.50 on ham, cheese, bread, and water. No offense to the kind, lovely, dedicated lunchladies who work this station, but I’ll take my business elsewhere.
The only issue is, should you ask the average DHS student, there aren’t many other options. So what to do? There’s always the Pizza Stand, but a $5.00 pepperoni special is only marginally more exciting than a $5.50 Sub. Moreover, for the sake of my abs I refuse to lunch on French Fries and Hot Sauce every day–so bye-bye grill.
The only option left is the quiet, lonely section of the DHS Cafeteria that I call the Hot Lunch Stand. This is where they serve us young adults our food on the same cardboard trays as they did in elementary school. What nerve. Few folks ever stop here, and everyone knows that the infamous mystery meat is made out of kitty liver.
(Yes, that last paragraph was pure hyperbole to make a point. There is no such thing as Mystery Meat.)
This stand has a bad reputation, there’s no denying it. However–call me crazy–I never really bought into that hype. So with the Sub Shop price hike, I gave myself a challenge: only Hot Lunch for 30 days–a regular old Supersize Me experiment. I would clear the name of Hot Lunch or die trying. I didn’t have the highest expectations.
What I discovered was better than anything I could have ever hoped for. I am now a proud convert and card-carrying member of the Church of Hot Lunch, and I will never go back.
Not everything about the experience has been perfect, but I’ve found much more cause to praise the Cafeteria than to complain about it. In general, you can never really go wrong with Hot Lunch. It’s tasty, it’s filling, it’s different, it’s cheap, and above all it’s vastly under-appreciated.
More substance, less money. The value is just too good to ignore. Still, independent of financial concerns, Hot Lunch offers the best tasting meals at the DHS Cafeteria.
While students may not truly appreciate Hot Lunch, it has huge fans in the school’s English and History Departments. Mr. Pavia, Mr. Woelker, and Mr. Keeler, a power triumvirate of Hot Lunch connoisseurs, will all readily attest to the quality of our cafeteria.
I was pleased, and utterly surprised, when Mr. Pavia told me that most of the meals served as Hot Lunch are made from scratch. Obviously this does not apply to things like the Chicken Patty, but everything from Minestrone Soup to Souvlaki Wraps are made by hand, the day of, in the E Wing.
Meal production is a real team effort. While most meals are prepared by cafeteria cafeteria manager/resident chef Donna Powell, others such and cashier Elanor Portocarerro pitch in from time to time whip up a specialty option.
With this wide range of skilled cooks making our food, DHS students and faculty get access to a wide range of cuisine. Mrs. Portocarerro, with Latin American roots, also cooks up an famous annual Cinco de Mayo special that Mr. Egan says is not only the best Hot Lunch meal but also, “the best meal the cafeteria serves.” We often are treated to Greek foods as well, such as Hot Lunch’s Chicken Moussaka and its cousin at the grill, the Gyro.
All of this exotic cuisine comes on top of an obligatory menu for any lunch establishment, which covers everything from BBQ Ribs to Spaghetti to Taco Boats (more like oil tankers–they’re ginormous). Hot Lunch does these classics as good as anyone, providing a solid culinary foundation for fancier options like Roast Pork and Grilled Steak. It seems that all too often these meals have faces only a mother, or true Hot Lunch veteran, could love. Not all students, it seems, are bold enough to walk by a fresh pot of forest green pesto (Ravioli day) and think hey, that looks good. Many are likely to roll their eyes and move along. This is an honest shame
. I can assure you all, there is no such thing as a repulsive Hot Lunch meal. They will not make you recoil in disgust. They will not make you sick. They will make you feel full and happy.
As Mr. Egan said, despite the few issues Hot Lunch may present, “none of them have anything to do with taste.” Certainly, Hot Lunch is more than proficient in the flavor department.
The only qualm I have with Hot Lunch has to do with an inconsistency of size. In some cases your meal will overflow from your tray, and in others (Chicken Patty especially), you’ll get through your first course and wonder where the rest of your food is–unfortunately, it isn’t.
This is one of a couple of “practical issues” Mr. Egan spoke of. Some meals, while perfectly appetizing, are unfortunately curiously small.
True Hot Lunch fans, however, are not phased by this occasionally bothersome fact. Besides the positive of taste, there is one more important factor which makes Hot Lunch so attractive: the human factor.
When you get Hot Lunch on a regular basis, you form a true connection with the people who serve you–as with any other local deli. Mr. Pavia claims to be on a first name basis with lunchlady Carol Street, a “saint” of a woman who always serves your tray with a friendly nod and smile.
This warm, neighborly relationship is a product of the enthusiasm our Cafeteria staff has for its work. Our chefs are under no obligation to share family recipes with a largely unappreciative public. They could just serve us sludge on a dish and call it a day, but they don’t. They go above because they truly want to serve the community as best they can.
As Mr. Pavia, a true English teacher, poetically said, our Hot Lunch meals are, “rich in the flavor of love.” I completely concur. I may not usually be a huge fan of Green Beans or Peas, but there’s something unquantifiable in Hot Lunch that makes me want to savor every last bite.
So tomorrow, try not to concede lunchtime defeat and stand once more in the Sub Shop’s long line. Try a Hot Lunch, and reward yourself by putting the $1.75 you’ve saved towards a delicious Apple, Blueberry, Strawberry, or even Chocolate Parfait. With this combination of taste and value, you might never go back.
