Dining Hall Fare Has Never Looked So Good: 4 Top-Selling Dishes
Donovan Dining Center at Rhode Island College is not just your ordinary dining hall. It’s a 4-Star Certified Green Restaurant that serves over 2,000 guests a day from a menu created by award-winning Executive Chef Aaron Fitzsenry.
Fitzsenry’s recipes have been featured by the Providence Journal, the Brown Daily Herald, URI publications, Newport Daily News and GoLocalProv.
He earned his B.A. in culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in 2000, and his B.A. in professional leadership studies at URI in 2023.
He is the recipient of several awards from the National Association of College and University Food Services – a Bronze medal in the 2013 Culinary Challenge, a Gold Sustainability Award in 2016 for his work with apple gleaning and a Gold/Grand Prize Sustainability Award in 2022 for his work on a Free Farmer’s Market.
In 2023 Fitzsenry joined Rhode Island College to provide culinary direction, menu development and operational support for its very successful dining and catering programs.
In this article, you’ll get a taste of what sets RIC’s dining experience apart. Take a look at four of the top-selling dishes that define the Donovan dining experience.
The Rice Bowl
The rice bowl is loved by carnivores and herbivores alike because it’s customizable. With this dish, you first start with a healthy base – whole grain rice – and then add some basics – lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole.
You top it off with vegetables from the Salad Bar and a protein (chicken, pork or beef).
“Our proteins are cooked low and slow until perfectly tender,” says Fitzsenry. “They consist of braised beef barbacoa, fire-braised pork carnitas, chicken thigh with adobo and chicken tinga.”
If you’re not a meat eater, not a problem. Fitzsenry also offers plant-based proteins – black beans, kidney beans or pinto beans on a rotating basis.
“One of the things I teach people who want to know more about nutrition and who want to keep it simple, is to eat the rainbow,” he says. “Look for a variety of colors and textures in your foods. It’s appealing and it’s going to give you a great balance, nutritionally. The rice bowl is a dish where you can easily create something bright, colorful, nutritious and layered.”
The College Classic
“There are a couple of things that make this dish unique,” says Fitzsenry. “First of all, we use gemelli and cavatappi pasta, which have a different shape and structure than your basic elbow macaroni. They’re both twist types of pastas. Gemelli is a little denser, which gives it improved longevity on the line [it won’t go limp on you], and cavatappi’s shape is great for holding loads of sauce.
“Then we cook the pasta in a rich sauce base – sharp and full of flavor – that’s layered with hard cheeses and softer, milkier cheeses.
“If that’s not decadent enough, we top the dish with a buttery-rich, cracker-crumb topping, before finishing it in the oven until it’s nice and golden.”
Hungry yet?
Pizza
Like most new dishes that appear on Donovan’s permanent menu, pizza started out as a trial run to gauge interest. The interest was high right away, Fitzsenry says.
“What makes our pizza so impressive – aside from its crispy crust and fresh ingredients – is the equipment we cook it with,” he says. “We use a rapid-cook, turbo chef oven.”
“What makes it exceptional is that it’s always fresh out of the oven and hot,” he says.
If by chance you stop by the Pizza Bar and all the pizza is gone, wait two-and-a-half minutes. That’s how short of a time it takes to make a fresh one.
Clean Protein
Clean proteins are found on the main entrée line. “They’re not so easily defined, but they’re the biggest mover,” says Fitzsenry.
Clean proteins change every meal period, every day. On the line in the afternoon could be moist sesame chicken or barbecue chicken. On the line in the evening could be jerk chicken with roasted pineapple, beef tenderloin tips with jerk marinade or the DDC Bowl (chicken nuggets, corn and mashed potatoes, topped with gravy).
Every clean protein comes with a starch and a vegetable. The clean protein can also be used interchangeably with any other dish in the dining hall to build a healthy meal.
Honorable Mention
This fifth dish is like one of those relatives no one likes to talk about, but you have to because they’re family.
The number one seller at Donovan is chicken tenders and french fries. We hate to say it, but there it is.
It’s the fallback dish for most students. Either they need a quick meal to go or it’s comfort food for them. According to Fitzsenry, this is true across most college campuses:
“I’ve worked at colleges for most of my career,” he says. “I was chef for URI for four-and-a-half years and chef for Brown University for nine years. URI has a whole culture built around their chicken tenders and Brown University has what they call Chicken Finger Friday.”
Still, at RIC, droves of diners are also reaching for items that elevate their palate. Donovan offers flavors from around the globe and a top chef with a wealth of knowledge and experience from the culinary world. Grab a plate and enjoy.
Donovan Dining Center menu of the day.