Your meal plan is now your ticket to world-class cuisine.
At least, it can be. Once a month.
That's the idea behind Penn's Guest Chef program, a series of nights at campus dining halls in which big-name area chefs are invited to prepare one dish for one evening.
It's a program Penn Dining officials are ecstatic about, and one that's designed to benefit students, the University and the chefs themselves, who receive an opportunity to advertise themselves to one of Philadelphia's largest conglomerates of potential customers.
After six visits by guest chefs since the program began last spring, University officials say they're even more excited now about the idea than they were when it started.
"The comments and feedback we have received from participants has been positive," Business Services spokeswoman Barbara Lea Kruger wrote in an e-mail.
The University does not pay to bring in these guest chefs - they volunteer in exchange for publicity - and the program boosts the number of diners in campus cafeterias.
Laurie Cousart, the director of Business Services in charge of Penn Dining, said that the chefs bring "interest, variety and authenticity" to the Penn dining experience, and that they "offer a culinary learning experience for our dining team."
On Guest Chef nights, the chefs typically oversee dining hall staff as they prepare one entree, which is included in the regular price of the meal.
College freshman Ezra Brettler, who attended the last Guest Chef night on Sept. 17 - which featured World Live Cafe's Matt Babbage - said he was impressed with the food.
"I think it's a huge step up," he said. "Generally, I don't think food from Commons is very good," but this was "definitely" better, he said.
For the chefs, the nights also serve many benefits.
Marigold Kitchen Head Chef Michael Solomonov, who was named Philadelphia's "Best New Chef" in 2006 by Philadelphia Magazine, called the Guest Chef nights a "cool event."
Solomonov is scheduled to come to campus on Oct. 24.
"This gives us a chance to let [students] know we're only 10 blocks west" of campus, Solomonov said.
Solomonov will be the second guest chef to visit campus this year, and the seventh since the program began last spring.
