While hordes of freshmen serve themselves buffet style at Mocon every afternoon and evening, other students opt for more of a “fine dining” experience. Across campus in the small but cozy corner room of Alpha Delt lies the Star and Crescent, run by members with the help of paid chef Jonathan Michael.
Alpha Delt’s Star and Crescent provides the most restaurant-like atmosphere on campus. Patrons sit together family-style at large wooden tables with servers who could easily be mistaken as fellow diners (and sometimes are). While they may not have candlelit tables for two or bow-tied waiters, they do serve food that can rival that of any restaurant on Main Street.
At the corner of one of the tables sits William Franklin ’09, a permanent fixture at Star and Crescent since his first days as a freshman.
“When I eat here I feel full and not unhealthy, as opposed to MoCon where I feel full and like my life expectancy is shortened,” Franklin said.
Last year, as a freshman, Franklin rushed to the front doors of Alpha Delt every evening at 5 p.m. on the dot. While dinner usually costs 8.75 points and lunch is 7.75 points, the first three freshmen to arrive are awarded free dinners. Now, as a sophomore, he has a special dining plan that accommodates Star and Crescent.
“I don’t even have to swipe my card anymore, they just write my name down in a log book,” Franklin said.
More and more students are discovering the wonders of Star and Crescent. Dinners used to accommodate about 55-60 students, and now the room is bustling with 95-100 students every night. Alpha Delt members can probably thank the relatively new head chef, Jonathan Michael, for the restaurant’s increased popularity.
Michael, who is originally from Middletown, studied English and Culinary Arts in Louisiana and worked all over the country before moving back home and taking the full-time position at Star and Crescent, where he has now been working for two years. He is in charge of basically everything that goes on behind the kitchen doors, from mopping the floor to creating the menu to training and supervising the staff.
“I have a really good rapport with all of the people who work close to me,” Michael said.
There is a group of paid staff workers who work five to 15 hours per week in the kitchen with additional volunteer members who serve food. Every member of Alpha Delt must contribute to the Star and Crescent in some way, whether it is by taking a shift serving food, washing dishes, advertising, or working on the webpage. Meg Duberek ’08, serves as the restaurant’s “senior steward,” running five meals a week.
“I’m the ‘oh shit’ person,” Duberek said. “If something goes wrong, people come to me.”
As a senior steward, she pays all the bills and wages, helps set up and clean up, collects Wescards if things get crazy, and deals with large groups.
“I’ve learned organizational skills, people skills, how to manage stress—all sorts of things that I can bring to a job and feel like I have some sort of competency,” Duberek said. “It’s been an amazing experience.”
Star and Crescent recently cut Monday and Friday lunches to the public to give Michael a break from the long work hours.
“There are always challenging moments because it’s a high-volume dining hall,” Michael said. “All the wait staff are volunteers, and it’s a hard job and it can get a little crazy, but I appreciate what they do.”
Although Michael’s job is stressful, he says it’s rare that things get out of control in the kitchen.
“I made a goal to yell less,” Michael said. “I don’t think I’ve made anyone cry since the first semester here.”
He also has complete creative control over the menu. He orders all of his own food and makes almost everything from scratch. His dishes range from student favorites like barbeque pork chops, soul food, Indian food, and steaks, to more eclectic dishes like kimchi, Korean pickled cabbage.
“I have the ability to cook stuff that I wouldn’t normally be able to in a fine dining setting,” Michael said. “That variety is what keeps me going here.”
According to Michael, most weeks around one-third to one-half of the menu is made up of new recipes he’s trying out.
“I sometimes push the envelope with desserts, because the concept of dessert in the U.S. is different than in other countries,” Michael said. “One of the cool experiences was making this Indian dessert that was basically cream of wheat mixed with a bunch of crazy things. Some people like it and some don’t.”
Although his experimentation and variation sometimes meets disapproval, most student responses are positive, and he believes it is an essential part of a good kitchen.
“You can’t please everyone all the time, and when you try to, you end up with pretty boring food,” Michael said. “There’s a certain level of mediocrity that people are accustomed to. You have to be willing to take risks.”
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