Comfort food and kale confetti

End-of-semester Bistro meals feature every texture from crunchy to creamy

I smelled the aromas of the kitchen at what seemed like the gates to heaven’s doors upon entering the Laney Bistro. My dining experience with these students was by far exquisite and worthy of high remarks up the rating scale.

Visual: 5
Artistic aesthetics and playful presentation

Aroma: 5
Indulgently overwhelming

Taste: 5
Warm and herbacious

Flavor: 5
Fresh quality ingredients

Texture: 5
Features every component, from crunchy to creamy

Overall: 25/25
Custom service

This week’s menu had a lentil soup with Swiss chard, Yukon gold potatoes, and grilled onions. Salads included a baby kale confetti, with goat cheese, toasted walnuts, oven dried grapes and a citrus vinaigrette.

The menu also includes am offering of burgers, from Angus, to an “ultimate” turkey burger (served with guacamole, turkey bacon, and red pepper aioli), a black bean burger (served with a chipotle mayo, mango-tomato salsa and avocado), all served with hand cut garlic-herb fries.

The chef’s special was a grilled breast of chicken-stuffed with Andouille sausage and kale, candy coated in a chipotle butter sauce with sweet caramelized onions and chards of smoky bacon, served with creamy yellow grits.

This was the perfect home-comfort food for a November afternoon, warm and memorable. The grill marks were artistically placed, portion and garnish were more feasible in compared to previous visits, leaving room to enjoy a dessert of a citrusy-sweet lemon pudding cake.

Over my meal I was entertained with the conversation by a student-worker by the name of Ben who showed great pride in the bistro’s cuisine. He told stories of his travels around the U.S. while being an international exchange student from Hong Kong.

When he realized Laney had a Culinary Arts department, he immediately changed his major. I’m glad he did, because this young man is clearly going places.

—Jasmine Howell