FIU’s top chefs dazzle at BBC luncheons


Students from the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management can take the heat in the kitchen – and they have the fans to prove it.

By Martin Haro

A woman dressed in red raises her glass of white wine to toast her husband. An alumnus shares a laugh with his family, and a table full of FIU administrators breaks bread and engages in conversation while another table of faculty studies the menu du jour.

The setting is not the newest hot-spot restaurant on South Beach – it’s the sun-kissed FIU School of Hospitality Dining Room overlooking the bay at Biscayne Bay Campus.

For $18 per person, guests can participate in a restaurant management session for students enrolled in Advanced Food Production Management, a School of Hospitality and Tourism Management class taught by Michael Moran ’86, MS ’03. Every semester, Moran’s students run both the kitchen and the front of the house as part of this exercise, overseeing every detail of the luncheons offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The Tuesday before the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival, it was Golden Panther Erica Benjamin’s turn to serve as executive chef for about 60 guests.

Benjamin’s menu consisted of a caprese salad appetizer and a choice between shrimp scampi on a bed of polenta, asparagus and tomato vinaigrette or a chicken marsala with mushrooms, asparagus and pea risotto. For dessert, students prepared a delicious Mt. Vesuvius cannoli.

Everything – from the white linen tablecloths to the service – was carefully thought out by Benjamin’s team, all of whom arrived around 8 a.m. and worked until about 4 p.m., to ensure that guests enjoyed their dining experience.

Some Golden Panthers plated the food the team prepared swiftly and elegantly as the noontime service approached, while fellow team members paid attention to the proper serving and clearing of plates out in the dining room. The exercise was carefully orchestrated and effortlessly executed.

“We love it, we come all the time,” said Doris Berman, a resident of Aventura who found out about the luncheons in the paper. “The food is wonderful and the kids do a great job.” Berman, her husband Allen, and their friend Carole Romen of North Miami Beach shared a table with friend Libby Gold, also of Aventura, who recently began joining them on their “Tuesday luncheon at FIU” tradition.

For the students, having fans of the luncheons makes the learning experience all the more worthwhile. They all work side-by-side on different tasks and some, like hospitality senior Priscilla Urra, the day’s sous chef, go from station to station sampling sauces or putting the finishing touches on dishes.

Senior hospitality management students Jamaloan Romero (left) and Priscilla Urra whip up a chicken marsala sauce before a student-run luncheon at the FIU School of Hospitality Dining Room.
Senior hospitality management students Jamaloan Romero (left) and Priscilla Urra whip up a chicken marsala sauce before a student-run luncheon at the FIU School of Hospitality Dining Room.

“Nothing about today is challenging,” said Gazalla Salam, the hospitality senior who made the polenta. “I’m enjoying cooking. I’m having fun.”

After lunch, the entire team introduced themselves to their guests and Moran said that they all would be working at the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival – “the greatest workshop we could ask for.”

Luncheons will resume post-SoBe on Thursday, Feb. 26, at noon. The remaining Spring Semester luncheons are scheduled for the following dates: March 4, March 10, March 12, March 31, April 2, April 8, April 14 and April 16.

For reservations, contact Roger Ledesma at 305-919-4526 or rledesm@fiu.edu

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