Grand Buffet at Kendall

I've been wanting to visit Kendall since they relocated, and so I have reservations for their grand buffet dinner this Thursday. Has anyone ever been to one in the past? What should I expect? Thanks

Here is a description quoted from their website:

Garde Manger is the culinary art of preparing, presenting, and decorating cold food, generally for buffets and banquets, and is considered one of the most demanding and artistic specialties of the culinary world. Kendall’s Advanced Garde Manger class invites you to sample their best efforts at The Grand Buffet.

This buffet lunch is the final exam for this advanced class. Each class and each buffet has a different theme but they all offer guests an amazing and wide-ranging assortment of hors d’oeuvres, pâtès, mousses, terrines and charcuterie. In addition to these, hot entrees and and a wide of assortment of desserts are served.

My wife is cooking during the day for the buffet lunch as part of her final exam. My dining companion bailed at the last minute. Is anyone else attending? Is anyone interested in joining me?

Just a caveat emptor...

I had to cancel out on attending a dinner party a couple Saturdays ago at Kendall due to sickness. They reported back to me that while the food was fabulous, they were blown away at the $15 per bottle wine corkage fee.

I remember when Kendall was in Evanston, that the corkage fee was no more than $5. That I can handle. But maybe I'm out of touch with what's usual & customary these days at BYOB restaurants.

jnm123 wrote:I remember when Kendall was in Evanston, that the corkage fee was no more than $5. That I can handle. But maybe I'm out of touch with what's usual & customary these days at BYOB restaurants.

Is the Kendall Dining Room BYOB? I was under the impression that they had a full bar now.

A $15 corkage for a restaurant with a full bar is perfectly normal

Best,
Michael

You are correct in that Kendall has a full bar now. I had just been wondering about BYOB's in general.

They still allow corkage, though I don't know what it is. We go on Monday nights to the Dining series, and it's included in the price.

Attending the Grand Buffet was my first experience at Kendall. We had a wonderful time. The theme for the evening was Caribbean. There were lots of variations on hors d'oeuvres with flavors and ingredients such as jerk seasoning, mango, pineapple, papaya, infused goat cheeses, seafood such as scallops, crab, and lobster, etc. The presentation was beautiful, and it tasted as good as it looked. The creating chefs manned each appetizer station, which had about 4 different kinds and some accompanying sauces/chutneys/salsas. It was all very overwhelming to keep track of what was what. Everything was made with such attention to detail and care, and there were so many interesting combinations of ingredients and flavors in those tiny bites! Sadly by the time I returned to my table w/my filled plate of hors d'oeuvres, I had forgotten what was what.

After taking a mini-break, I went onto the next course. I had a serving of Justin's mango soup with fried conch fritters. IMO the mango soup was one of the highlights of the evening - I really had no idea what to expect. It was light but smooth and creamy in texture. There was absolutely none of the stringy pulp in the soup. It was slightly warmer than it was cool, but definitely not hot. The conch fritters were interesting upon the first bite, but I grew to appreciate it as it reminded me my mom's homemade crab balls. For sides, there were yucca fries, plantain chips served with a mango chutney, and salted fried lotus roots. For mains, there was a delicious citrus glazed mahi mahi with a corn relish and a jerk rubbed flank steak w/a pineapple sauce. We lucked out w/a fresh tray of mahi mahi while we were in line. The citrus flavors were mild and a nice complement with the delicate mahi mahi. On my first trip up to the table, I regretfully only had a very thin slice of the flank steak since it was far superior to the second helping I had later in the evening.

For dessert, we split the tres leches cake and a bavarian chocolate cake (IIRC). Both desserts were absolutely delicious and sinfully indulgent. I should have stopped while I was ahead, but my eyes were bigger than my stomach. The crust of the chocolate cake was like a multi-layered wafer. There was a luscious layer of ganache over the creamy filling. Yummy, I am starting to get hungry just thinking about it again!

All in all, I had a wonderful time. As someone who is accustomed to 5-6 mini meals a day, I definitely over ate and didn't recover my appetite until 2:30 this afternoon. The service was very attentive and professional.

Johnny - I'd love to hear about your lunch!

Pucca wrote:Johnny - I'd love to hear about your lunch!

Overall, I was really impressed with all of the menu offerings. The Carribean theme had to be challenging for the students. My wife was assigned veal as her ingredient. Her dishes consisted of a veal terrine and a rum-cured foi torchon. One of my favorite dishes was a banana coconut soup served in a hallowed kiwi. My dining companion and I shared a bottle of white that he brought with (no corkage fee, by the way). I was impressed with the students intense presentation and ambition - which more than made up for any lack of experience they may possess. The food was well worth the $25 per person charge.

I have been working a lot of hours lately which is one of the reasons I have not been posting much lately. However, I decided to take off Friday afternoon and head down to Kendall College's Grand Buffet.

The Grand Buffet is the final exam for the Kendall College students. It is an extensive presentation of of hors d’oeuvres, pâtès, mousses, terrines and charcuterie prepared by graduating stiudents. Basically, there were four teams of two chef students each of which prepared three or four items with a complement of sauces. In addition to preparing the actual items, they also prepared a display which included their menu items.

In general, the food was quite good. Some of the top selections IMO was two versions of homemade chorizo that was delightfully hot. There were also two rabbit turrines that were pretty good. The absolute best taste was a cherry chutney that exploded with taste in my mouth.

In addition to the cold food, there were three hot entrees - a swordfish almondine, paella, and fresh peach slices wrapped with serrano ham.

In addition to all this food, there was also a table of fine cakes and tortes. The tres leche cake which was laced with Meyers rum was truly outstanding.

The cost of the meal - which is held several times a year - is a screaming bargain at $25/ person with non-alcoholic beverages included.

Just a quick note as I'm a current Kendall student.

The Grand Buffet is for 6th and 7th block students (7th block is your last for Associate students) The 6th block students are in Garde Manger which prepares cold foods such as pates, terrines, appetizers, and sauces. Each group of two is required to make one main course and one appetizer each with an accompanying sauce. The 7th block students are the students cooking for the dinning room, and the ones preparing the hot food for the Grand Buffet.

If anyone has questions about Kendall College's dinning room, Grand Buffet, etc. please let me know. You can send me a msg and I'll get back to you asap.

PS: I'll be in the dinning room this coming term for Lunch service so it'd be great to see you all there.