Campus Food Critics Chow Down

So many fries, so little time.

Close to 100 students and several administrators hovered around tables of fries, buns, burgers, and onion rings at last night’s “Pub Grub Taste Test” to sample possible menu items of the future permanent pub.

Closing their laptops and books, students headed to the Loker Commons, where pub construction will begin this summer, where they were given evaluation sheets with pre-set categories to rate the 17 varieties of items.

Some students also added their own comments, which ranged from “Yum” and “Fat and Juicy” to “I wanna lay the chef who cooked these” and “I’d be honored to have my meat between these buns.”

To make their decisions, Undergraduate Council Vice President Clay T. Capp ‘06 and Molly M. Faulkner-Bond ‘06 methodically placed their food samples on a table, arranginng the items by variety.

Capp said he wanted to see more “more axes of evaluation,” where students could rate crunchiness, saltiness, skinniness, and greasiness or recommend variations, such as curly fries.

The pub taste test event is one of four that will take place during the spring to select the menu for the future permanent pub, which is slated to open in the fall.

More than 400 students vied for the 40 spots available for the event through an online lottery. Guests were allowed to bring one friend.

“The concept is to get student input on many decisions,” said Zachary A Corker ’04, the manager of Loker Commons planning and program development.

The Taste Test was organized by the Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) Pub Task Force, comprised of 12 students with titles such as “Culinary Representative,” “Tradition and Lore Representative,” and “Stage, Audio, and Visual Representative.”

The upcoming taste test events will solicit feedback on appetizers, desserts, and, finally, in an event open only to seniors, wine and Harvard-labeled beer.

“We wanted to present the beer as a gift to the seniors so they can leave a legacy behind,” said HSA Task Force Marketing Representative Daniel Chen ’08.

Chen added that the Task Force offered this perk, because the seniors will graduate before being able to use the permanent pub.

Linda X. Li ’06, the culinary representative on the Task Force, met with food consultants who recommended quality recipes and distributors, describing different kinds of patties and ways to prepare fries.

Li said that although students will not understand the difference between an Angus and a chuck beef patty—the names refer to different body parts of the cow—they will appreciate taste differences.

Li said the Task Force has made an effort to keep grub prices lower than the average burger joint.

The price of a burger at the pub will be $3 and a side order of fries will be $1.50. The pub will be managed by an HSA-hired professional, but Corker said that students will serve as cooks and possibly waiters.

Though many students were turned away from the event, Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 said he thought the sample would be a good reflection of overall student preferences.

“There are plenty of opinions from 80 students,” he said. “Let’s see

if a consensus emerges.”

—Staff writer Katherine M. Gray can be reached at kmgray@fas.harvard.edu