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Breakfast

UConn

Rethinks

Breakfast Bibimbap Burrito

ith students eating on campus every day, it is im- open faced. When a student comes in, we have the avocado
Wportant for foodservice operations to keep things that we basically smash up with a little salt and pepper and
fresh and exciting. lemon juice. We put it right on the toast after it comes out
One of the hardest meals to bring that freshness and ex- of the toaster and we will top it with slices of applewood-
citement to is breakfast, where the standard items have to be smoked bacon or we will put an over-medium egg on top
there. At the University of Connecticut (UConn) in Storrs, or tomato. Everything we do with avocado seems to be a
Dining Services has found a way to do just that. big hit, so we thought it would be a great breakfast item
“When we go through and change our menus — and we because avocados have good saturated fat. It has done very
try to change our menus about 30 percent every semester — well for us.”
and breakfast is always the hardest,” said Rob Landolphi, Landolphi also came up with a new take on the breakfast
assistant director of culinary operations. “You always look at burrito for the school’s food truck: a take on the Korean dish
those signature, staple bibimbap. Traditional
items: There are good bibimbap is served as
old pancakes, French Chocolate Pound Cake French Toast Vanilla Pound Cake French Toast a bowl of warm white
toast, eggs, bacon, sau- rice topped with sau-
sage. It is one of those téed and seasoned veg-
meals that doesn’t etables and gochujang
change so often. What (a chili pepper paste),
we try to do is offer soy sauce or doenjang
more variety around (a fermented soybean
breakfast, because it paste). A raw or fried
adds a little excite- egg and sliced meat are
ment to the morning often added.
is the best way to put Avocado Toast “In retail, we always
it. Most kids when they come in will go did the bibimbap for lunch and dinner,” he
to the cereal and the bacon and eggs, but said. “One day, I was looking at it — you
when we do something special, they get have this steak that is thinly sliced and
excited.” marinated in pineapple juice, soy sauce,
One popular breakfast promotion they garlic, ginger, brown sugar and honey.
have done is a twist on French toast using Basically, if I took that whole bowl, with
pound cake and other breakfast breads. the rice and the eggs and everything else
“Students love French toast, but they love that was in it, if I rolled that up, that would
pound cake French toast,” he said. “Our make a great burrito for breakfast. I went
bakery makes lemon-poppy bread, banana to the test kitchen and checked it out and
bread, chocolate pound cake and vanilla pound cake.” it was absolutely delicious with a nice squirt of gochujang
Dining set up a bar with the French toast choices and a sauce. We put that on our food truck as one of our breakfast
variety of toppings, including fresh peaches, strawberries, items. That went very well.”
blueberries, whipped cream and different syrups. “That was The students have really taken to the special breakfast of-
a big hit, especially for that student who is looking for some- ferings. “It is just something different,” said Landolphi. “That
thing sweet in the morning,” said Landolphi. “It was rich; one is what it is all about. They are always looking for something
slice was plenty. We would do a thick cut of pound cake. It different, even in the morning. An example is that we always
had some great color to it. It was different. It was a big hit.” have oatmeal, but when we started doing quinoa breakfast
Students also love when avocado toast is on the menu. cereals with different toppings, or millet breakfast cereals,
“We heard about it, and I went down to the bakery and I and started changing up the grains from oatmeal, we had
wanted them to create a whole-grain bread that was thick students who normally wouldn’t touch oatmeal saying that it
cut, something good and grainy and healthy,” he said. “They was kind of neat and trying the new stuff. It changes things
came up with a bread. We wanted to keep it simple, so it is up and inspires them to try something new.” —OCH

ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY APRIL 2017 | 13