Award-Winning Chef Cooks at Currier

While most Harvard students feasted on eggplant parmesan or Scandinavian-style vegetables last night, Currier House residents were treated to pan-roasted northwest salmon with grilled ratatouille and herb-encrusted Alaskan spot prawns.

Currier House's dinner was part of Harvard Dining Services visiting chef program, which brings famous chefs to Harvard to cook for undergraduates.

The dinner was prepared by Monique Andree Barbeau, a two-time winner of James Beard awards, which are prestigious cooking prizes. The award is one of the "highest [American] honors a chef can receive," Director of Dining Services Michael P. Berry said.

Barbeau, the chef of Fullers, a Seattle restaurant, was featured in a PBS cooking special, worked with Julia Child, and has even cooked for the cast and crew of "Northern Exposure."

Students said they were pleasantly surprised by the food and the atmosphere.

White cloth napkins and tablecloths, candles and elaborate flower displays altered the dining room's atmosphere. A small band entertained as 200 Currier House residents dressed up for the occasion, drank wine before dinner, and were waited on by white gloved dining staff for the two-hour event.

"This is exactly what I thought Harvard would be like," said Kimberly M. Song '97, a transfer student from a military academy. "This is why I transferred. It's phenomenal. I love it."

"The food was delicious, the atmosphere was nice, and I was amazed by the quality of the service." Heather L. Beasley '97 said.

Students gave two standing ovations after dinner.

"Thank you for supporting my food," said Barbeau. "It was a real treat to cook for you all."

A few students were unaccustomed to the full place settings.

"I usually don't use [the silverware] in the right order, but it's fun to play with them," said Jinjie Tang '97, holding up a butter knife. "This looks pretty funny, like some kind of ancient weapon, from Troy or something."

Berry said the dinner was part of a larger goal to instill "a wow factor--for students to say 'wow, this is nice."

Barbeau worked with eight to 10 Harvard Dining Services workers to prepare the meal. John M. Aiken, production manager at Currier, said the preparations took about a day and a half.

"It was a compliment for the staff to be able to show their talents off like that," he said. "You can take a guy who was a pot washer and turn him into a five-star chef at a five-star restaurant."

The evening was also used to encourage Currier residents to help out in a program that collects extra food from the dining halls and brings it to homeless shelters.

Dining Services donates $1,000 to the Greater Boston Food Bank each time it brings in a visiting chef, for a total of $10,000 this year, Berry said. "We try to raise social consciousness as part of our service," he said.

The Food Bank is the largest hunger relief agency in the region, feeding 227,000 people each month through 750 non-profit agencies, according to Westy A. Egmont, the executive director.

"[Mike Berry] is seen as providing the national model of food service," Egmont said. "What you have happening on this campus is unequaled."