The Gastronome

The Gastronome
Cal St. Fullerton

Classes first started at Cal St. Fullerton in 1957. In 1988 they finally got dorms for about 800 students, at the time enrollment was about 20,000. In the early 2000's Fullerton added a second phrase of dorms. Both phrases of dorms did not have a traditional dining hall. Students would have to cook their own meals or buy a meal plan at Hope International University, which is across the street from CSF.

Then in August of 2011, with enrollment well over 30,000, CSF opened a third phrase of dorms that finally included a dining hall!! Called The Gastronome, it's a huge complex that is broken up into five sections; deli/grill, salad bar, dessert bar, fried food bar, meal of the day.

The first college dining hall The New Diner reviewed was, McConnell Bistro at Pitzer College, and I was very impressed with how far "dorm food" has come. But, then I was reminded of how bad dorm food can still be when I went to Los Olivos Dining Commons at Cal Poly Pomona.

Since CSF is part of the same college system as Cal Poly Pomona, I figured I would get more of the same. $12.39 for dinner and is all you can eat.

There was a large salad bar, stocked with tons of veggies. Some were fresher than others. I got romaine lettuce, spinach, chopped eggs, kidney and garbanzo beans, and cucumbers, topped with ranch dressing.  Most of the veggies I got were fresh, except for the cucumbers, which had been sitting around too long.  The dressing was diluted with water, making it very runny and hurt the flavor.  Overall, a pretty standard buffet salad bar.  But, I didn't find any carrots!!

I got the regular and buffalo chicken wings are from the fried food section, which also had some bacon wrapped hot dogs. The wings are already fried and they will toss the buffalo wings sauce when you order it. The wing were crispy and juicy. The sauce was a bit mild for me, but a pretty good example of wings.

The chicken curry-with carrots, peas and potatoes, was located in the "entree section." The other entree offering was meatloaf, which I didn't want, it just didn't look appetizing. I like that this station offered two entrees and the entree choices changes daily.

The chicken was white meat and pretty flavorful. The curry had a mild flavor, I'm more used to a bolder flavor when it comes to curry.

The busiest and longest section served freshly grilled chicken sandwiches, burgers, a pizza area, and had sandwich bar, where you wrote what you wanted on your sandwich and it was freshly prepared.  I got a turkey, salami, and capocola with cheddar cheese.  This was a very fresh sandwich with good sliced meats.  I'm not expecting the best sliced meats, but I was satisfied with the quality of meats.

Pepperoni pizza. The pizza are made in a wood fire oven. But the quality of ingredients were lacking. The cheese was very rubbery, the crust was mediocre, and the pepperoni was just ok. I really thought this was a pizza from Little Caesars and that isn't a compliment.

The chicken sandwich is made to order, is a good sized piece of chicken breast that is well seasoned with salt, pepper and onion and garlic power. It was cooked perfectly on the grill. The lettuce and tomatoes were fresh, but the bun was just a regular bun, nothing special about it. I really liked the sandwich, which was flavorful, tender and moist.

I didn't care for the burger, which tasted like mystery meat burgers and wasn't good at all. It was just too greasy, it must have been 70-30 meat to fat ratio, which is terrible.

Service overall was very good. The cashier was nice and friendly. All the servers were nice. But, the guy at the grill, who prepared your burgers or sandwiches, was moving in slow motion. I mean there are people in line and he's going so damn slow. The guy cooking your burgers was nice and moved quickly.

The students at Cal St. Fullerton are more down to earth kids, not the spoiled, snotty rich kids who attend Pitzer.

Overall, I enjoyed my first trip to The Gastronome. I'm not sure it's a good value at $12.39, but there was a wide variety of food and the quality, overall, was pretty good.

Mallot Commons

After reviewing McConnell Bistro at Pitzer College, I heard that Mallot Commons, the dining hall for Scripps College was even better!! David Allen reviewed Mallot Commons a couple years ago.  So I had to see for myself, how Mallot Commons compares. Mallot Commons is located at 9th Street and Columbia. There is street parking on Columbia. But depending on when you go, there may not be many open spaces.

Mallot is set up, like McConnell Bistro, in that there are many stations. I will review each station and the food offered at each station. The big difference is that Mallot Commons is run by a company called Sodexo Campus Service. So there are different chefs, menus and quality of food and services.

The cost for dinner was $13.50; don't worry I'll talk much more about that, later in this review.




The salad bar was huge, with a large selection of fresh veggies. I just got romaine lettuce and honey mustard dressing. Fresh and crispy. The honey mustard was great. Most honey mustard dressing has a bolder, spicier flavor. But I prefer this more subtle, lighter honey mustard dressing.





The next station was the grill. They have burgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, chicken breast and fried cod.

Fried cod-these were frozen pieces of cod covered in a heavy batter, a lot more batter than fish. I would bet there was a 70/30, batter to fish, ratio. How do I know they were frozen pieces of cod. I saw them frying up a new batch of frozen cod, straight from the box into the fryer. Come on now, make things from scratch. The taste is about the same as a Long John's Silver. In other words, nothing special. Tartar sauce was very good, tangy with a hint of mustard.

The grilled chicken breast was great. Well marinated with a light, I believe Italian style marinate. Grilled just right and full of flavor. My favorite part of dinner. I guess they were meant for sandwiches, but just having a few pieces of chicken, veggies, and rice would make a great meal.

The burger. These are frozen patties grilled up and put under the heat lamps. They are not cooked to order. There is a nice topping bar, filled with all kinds of condiments and fresh toppings. But these burgers are so average. Just like any regular burger.




They had four types of pizza, cheese, veggie, Hawaiian, and pepperoni. The crust was so soggy and just bad. But the cheese and pepperoni were top notch. Tons of great tasting cheese and a spicy pepperoni. But the crust just ruined it. If they made a good crust, this would be a great pizza.



The main entree is next to the pizza but I didn't get a picture. This is the grilled tilapia with pineapple chutney and coconut rice. The tilapia was dry a bit salty. But for some reason this dish was also running low, every time I went by the station. The pieces of pineapple were so hard and chewy, it ruined this dish.

The rice was off. Too sweet, with the coconut. Just make rice pilaf. Keep it simple.






The last station has the nightly special; tonight it was sushi, soups and desserts. I was only able to get a picture of the sushi portion.

Sushi pieces included:

California roll-Fresh avocado and imitation crab. I would rate this a 7.
Tuna roll-Again fresh but the tuna lacked flavor. About a 5.
Veggie roll-Made with mushrooms, pretty good but I wouldn't order this again.
Salmon roll-Nice fresh piece of salmon, good rice and seaweed wrap.
Crab roll-A good piece of imitation crab meat. About a 6.

The soup was clam chowder. Nice and thick, with lots of clams but not much potatoes, a good thing. I did enjoy this clam chowder and it hit the spot on a cold rainy night.

I made a chocolate chip cookie frozen yogurt sandwich. The cookie was freshly baked and was soft, with melting chocolate chips. Very good stuff. The chocolate yogurt was nothing special, even though it was labeled Dryer's brand frozen yogurt.

Mallot Commons is relatively small and I hated how the traffic flowed. There are dining rooms at both ends and the food stations are in the middle of the commons. But it gets so packed in the narrow hallways and the food station. The sushi line was so popular there was a long line that prevented people from getting to parts of the salad bar, the soups and desserts. The dining rooms are loud because of the low ceilings and the small size of the room. Ok, I know this is for college kids but not a good dining experience.

Service, by the hostesses and cashiers, left a lot to be desired. Honestly it was terrible. Though service by the people serving and cooking the food was good. There are two entrances into Mallot. I was meeting a friend but I didn't know about the two entrances. I went into one entrance and asked if I could look for my friend. She was nice and I found my friend at the other entrance. We went to pay and the old lady at the register was rude and slow and should not be working with the public. My friend paid in cash and it took this lady forever to count the money and give change. I mean, when paying $15, it shouldn't take 15 minutes to get chance. I actually got tired of waiting and went to the other entrance. Which brings me to the price.

I went by Mallot earlier in the week and asked the cashier how much was dinner. I was told $8. I didn't eat that night but I wanted to see what they had to offer. But tonight, I went there and they said $13.50. I told them I thought it was $8. They told me, that is the price for staff and professors. I can't help I was ripped off because there are NO prices listed. I mean it can't take that long to price up a price list. What is to prevent the lady from pocketing the extra $5. They need to put a sign with the prices listed!!!

For the very average quality of the food, $13.50 was very overpriced. This is no better than Hometown Buffet, which has more selection. At $8, it would be worth the price. But most of the dishes was average at best.

I was taking pictures of stations and the cashier came up and said no pictures inside. Why not? What do they have to hide? Nothing is top secret in the food business. You should be proud of the food you're serving. Ok she was nice about it and really, why are they paranoid about the somebody taking pictures?

Ok, I realize the dining common is meant for students, who come in, swipe their ID cards and start eating. But these people are dealing with the public, maybe even the parents of the kids. But that doesn't mean they can treat the kids badly either. Sure, kids can be a pain, just look at those comments by that snotty punk Pitzer kid, from my McConnell Hall review, but those kids deserve better treatment by the cashiers. The cashiers really need to learn the meaning of customer service.

I believe Scripps is the all women's college. But there are many male students eating there since students from all five Claremont Colleges are allowed to eat at any dining hall.

I would not go back to Mallot Commons. The food is no better than Hometown Buffet and the overall experience makes one feel as though, they just fought rush hour traffic just to get dinner. Add to that the rude service from the cashiers and you got a perfect combination for a bad dining experience.

Los Olivos Dining Commons

No, I am not making it a habit of going to college dining halls. But after a great experience at McConnell Bistro at Pitzer College, which is a private college, I wanted to see how a state school's dining hall would compare. While the cost of tuition is greater at a private college, room and board, are basically in the same ballpark at every college. Most meal plans will cost about $1,500 a semester/quarter. So if the price is the same why does one school serve so much better food?

I went to Cal Poly Pomona's Los Olivos Dining Commons. Dinner price is $8.25. Los Olivos is set up to serve a larger student enrollment. So there are more stations; a salad station with three different islands filled with fresh salads and dressings, a pasta/pizza station; that makes it's own pizza, a Mogolian BBQ, taco bar, and finally a deli. For dessert a freezer of four different ice cream flavor but I didn't take a picture.




I was surprised to see both romaine and iceberg lettuce offered at the salad bar. I got the romaine lettuce, topped with a creamy ceasar dressing, corn, carrots, and kidney beans. This was fresh, cold and tasty. The salad bar is a good option and offers a wide variety of fresh salads. Maybe the best option at Los Olivos.




Next up was the pizza/pasta bar. They offer two pizzas a night, a meat and a veggie option. The night I went they had sausage and a potato garlic. I got the sausage pizza. This pizza was basically crust, cheese, and toppings. There was little sauce at all, making this a very bland pizza. I did like the crispy crust.





Next up for me was the Mongolain BBQ. This is actually two stations. You get your sauces and veggies at one station and the meats and noddles at another. There weren't that many options for at the sauce and veggie station; three sauces and about 8-9 different veggie options. I got spinach and mushrooms with Schezwan sauce. Then I got chicken and noodles from the cook. The chicken is ground chicken. Mongolian BBQ is what you make it. You add your veggies and sauces and as long as the cook knows what he is doing, you're going to fine. I did like the Mongolian BBQ I got but I wasn't impressed that they were using ground chicken.







The next station they have is what is the daily entree menu. There are usually two different entrees; the day I went they had the pork chops with root beer BBQ sauce and something called Oricchiette con Pollo, which is a chicken dish with pasta.

I got the other chicken, an Italian chicken. This chicken is one of those rubbery chicken that was frozen and then reheated. Terrible, bland, flavorles, not good at all.

Also on the plate was chicken tenders, which is at the same station as the burgers and hot dogs. The chicken tender were all white meat, a bit salty, and had a nice crunchy outside. But the tenders were sitting in a freezer this morning and put in the fryer and then served up. In other words, nothing special.

Then I tried two versions of the pork chops. The real pork chops- a bit dry but flavorful, though the BBQ sauce was too sweet. I got the corn and snap peas side, which was nothing but frozen veggies heated up.

Then later on I got the McRib sandwich, oh, wait, I'm not at McDonalds. But that is exactly what this damn "pork chop" is. A mystery meat pork patty drown in BBQ sauce.

Another mystery meat item was the burgers. This is nothing but the mystery meat burgers you got in 3rd grade. No flavor, nothing. I took 2-3 bites and I was down with that burger.

But one thing, maybe the only thing that was great, was the all beef hot dog. They also had turkey dogs but I got the all beef hot dog. I was shocked to taste a nice snap to this hot dog. Good flavor and spice to this hot dog.





The last station is the taco bar. There were two different meats, ground beef and ground turkey for tacos and beef taquitos. The turkey tacos were very good. Nice flavor with lots of spices and the turkey was well cooked. There is another station filled with any kind of topping you want. The lettuce, cheese, and sour cream were all fresh.

The beef taquitos were terrible. There were barely any beef and what beef was there was dry and flavorless. This was basically a tortilla rolled up and fried.



I wish I got to the deli section before it closed-why the deli section closed before the dining hall closes is beyond me. But they had a wide variety of breads and meats.

Service was below average. The people working there were slow to refill items. The pizza station took forever to make another sausage pizza. I mean the station has a ton of potato pizza- crab lovers rejoice, but no sausage pizza. I went to one of the soda dispensers and there was no ice. A worker told me, 'It is out of ice.' Ok, fine. But hello, McFly, Anybody home? isn't it your job to refill the ice? I mean come on man. Later I went to the deli and the guy was in such a hurry to close up, he didn't even acknowledge me. Look it wouldn't be that big of a deal to get two pieces of bread and a few slices of meat. Hell it would have taken much to say 'Sorry we're closed.' But nothing. Terrible. Why are they so slow to refill stations? A way to cut costs?

If I wasn't such an honest guy I could have eaten for free. The dining hall is on the second floor of the building. The first floor is a small store and at the register you're suppose to either slide your student ID or pay for your meal. I didn't know this until I walked up the stairs and didn't see any place to pay. I walked around looking for a place to pay upstairs and then walked back downstairs to pay for my meal. The cashier was nice. But they need a better way to enforce who gets to go upstairs to prevent people from eating for free.

Again eating at any college dining hall means finding parking is going to be tough. Parking at Cal Poly Pomona costs $5 a day. It means not only a long walk from the lot to the dining hall, but also driving around trying to find a parking space.

Cal Poly Pomona isn't filled with the snotty rich kids like Pitzer but if you like having dinner with kids wearing pants that sag so much and kids wearing caps backwards, you're going to love eating at Los Olivos. Our future leaders!!

I will say this, I was glad to see a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations, you can see them in the background in the picture of the salad bar. I hate those stupid idiots who take states to court for having Christmas displays. If you don't like it, just look away.

Cal Poly Pomona does have a restaurant on campus, Kellogg West, that is run by the students of their great hotel and restaurant management program. I have heard very good things about Kellogg West and I will go there for dinner one day. But I will not go back to Los Olivos again. Not only was the overall price more expensive, $13.25- $8.25 and $5 for parking but the food was terrible. If I was a student at Cal Poly Pomona, I would be complaining like crazy about the terrible food. I mean the kid's parents are paying for frozen food that is heated up, bland flavorless food, mystery meat entrees. Why are these students bothering to protest the fee increases at the CSU's but settling for crappy food?

McConnell Bistro

I found out about McConnell Bistro, the dining at Pitzer College, after reading David Allen's review. To be honest I was surprised that "dorm" food could be gourmet. But further research revealed that the chef at McConnell Bistro was a sous chef at a few 4-5 star restaurants in New York City and all the food in the dining hall is made from scratch, the chef works for the Bon Appetit, a food's services company. So Pitzer College has contracted out their dining services. They made a great choice.

McConnell Bistro is on the campus of Pitzer College, which is part of the Claremont Colleges. McConnell is No. 9, on 9th Street on this Pitzer College Map. Since McConnell Bistro is a college dining hall they are catering to the students needs and hours. So I doubt they are going to be open much during summer and around school holidays. Take a look at McConnell Bistro hours to make sure they fit into your plans. But the public is welcomed to enjoy the great food. Just don't expect a lot of non students when you go. Though I do wish they would stay open for dinner a bit longer on weekends.

The menu at changes daily but usually Sundays are steak night!!! Again the public is welcomed to enjoy dinner, cost is $8!!! Yes, for only $8, you got an all you can eat meal, made from scratch by a well trained chef and his staff. This is the best deal you will see!!!



The Bistro is set up with a greens station; fresh salad, cold cuts, and cheeses.



A sweets station, cookies, pies, cakes, and brownies.



Options area, which was had Mexican items, the night I went. I heard this changes daily. Monday night is Mongolian BBQ, and Tuesday night is Taco Tuesday, where they make their own tortillas, and Friday nights are vegetarian night.



Market Grill has made to order burgers, chicken sandwiches, onion rings, hot dogs, chicken tenders, grilled cheese sandwiches, bratwurst, and quesadillas.



Main Plate which is your entrees and sides.



Steamed broccoli and onion rings. The broccoli was in the Main Plate area. The broccoli was cooked a bit too crispy for me but was well seasoned and fresh. The onion rings were very good!! There was a hint of root beer in the batter. Crispy and with thick cut pieces of onions. My only issue with the onion rings were they were only warm. The onion rings right out of the fryer, would be the best onion rings anywhere!!!




I got a burger and a chicken sandwich from the Market Grill. You fill out the slip of paper with what kind of sandwich or burger you want. Then check the toppings you want. You can then either wait for your sandwich or come back for your sandwich. The chicken sandwich was made of fresh chicken breast. I asked for cheese, lettuce, tomato and special sauce which is a thousand island style sauce. The sandwich was very tasty. A bit small but I understand why they make it small, since this is an all you can eat dining hall, most people aren't only going to eat a sandwich.

The burger with bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato was cooked to about medium rare, fresh and tasted great; juice, good flavor. There are condiments on the tables if you want to add ketchup, mustard etc.




Now onto the Main Plate. The main entree was steak, mushrooms, and mac and cheese. But there was also freshly made gourmet pizza. The steak, I think a sirloin cut, select grade, was flavorful, tender, and cooked just right, medium rare. The steak was seasoned with garlic and ginger. This is very well made steak.

The mushrooms was a perfect side to the steak. Fresh, full of flavor, in a light sauce, more than likely the au jus of the steak.

The mac and cheese was so creamy and rich. This isn't from some damn box. The cheese sauce was perfectly mixed into the perfectly cooked macaroni. Topped with bread crumbs, this is a winning combo.






A treat for me was the gourmet ice machine!!! The had two flavors, lime and mango. The lime was just OK. Nothing special. But the mango flavor was great. A ton of mango flavor, nice and refreshing even when it is 55 degrees outside. I also love the fact that they server Coke, not third rate cola.

I loved the oatmeal raisin cookie. Lots of raisins, cinnamon, not too sweet.

Service is good. The lady taking my money was nice and friendly. She answered all my questions. The staff at Options, Main Plate, and Market Grill were quick and helpful. The food is always hot and fresh and once the food runs out, it is quickly refilled. Since there are a lot of students the food has a high turnover rate, always a plus at a buffet.

But as I was taking pictures one staff member came up to me and asked if I needed any help. I know it is weird to have somebody taking pictures but I don't see why he is asking. I wasn't bothering anybody. He wasn't a jerk about it. But still, why bother?

Of course it maybe a bit uncomfortable eating dinner with a bunch of snotty rich kids but I have no reason to talk to them. And they are so into their own world, they won't even notice somebody who isn't part of their small world.

My memories of dorm food is mashed potatoes made from a box, mystery meat burgers and entrees. It is nice to see that some schools now care about the food they are serving their students. Students, ok their parents, who are paying a good amount of money for that food. Who knows maybe all the whining about terrible dorm food, back then got school's to improve the dorm food offerings.

I would have no issues going back to McConnell Bistro again. Well one issue is parking. There are a lot of parking for students and faculty but not much for visitors. I parked on College Blvd and 9th Street and walked to McConnell. 9th Street doesn't continue east from College Blvd. Again, I understand parking is set up for students but they could have a little more parking for visitors.

But the food is great and you can't beat the price. Don't worry about sitting with a bunch of snotty rich kids. Ok, ok I'm being a bit hard on those kids. Seriously though, give McConnell Bistro a try. You will change your mind about "dorm" food, after your first bite.

Update Dec 6, 2009

I went back to McConnell Bistro on a Friday night dinner, $8, for their vegetarian night. I am not a vegetarian but I told a few friends about McConnell and they wanted to give McConnell a try. I was expecting nothing but veggies but they had a chicken item, pizza, egg rolls, and beef enchiladas and of course their Market Grill for chicken sandwiches and burgers.



The last time I went I didn't try their soup. But it has finally felt like winter and it was a bit colder than normal so I looked at what soups they offered. When I saw clam chowder I was all over it. DAMN, this was so good. The clam chowder was a lot thinner than I'm used to but it had so much flavor!!! Tons and tons of clams and very little potatoes. Such a rich hearty flavor and hit the spot on a cold night.



I also didn't try their salad bar so I made sure to give it a try. I got romaine lettuce topped with cucumbers, mushrooms and carrots with ranch dressing. All very fresh and tasty.



Next up was the cheese pizza and oh gratin potatoes. The pizza was covered with cheese and had a good flavor but I didn't care for the crust. If you combined the crust from Los Olivos at Cal Poly Pomona and the pizza sauce and toppings from McConnell you would have a damn good pizza.

The oh gratin potatoes were nice nicely mixed with a mild tasting cheese. The red potatoes were cut into big ovals and just covered with that cheese. Nice and relatively light.




Next up was the BBQ tofu and garlic asparagus. The tofu was pan fried then covered in BBQ sauce. The sauce would be great on ribs!!! The outside of the tofu had a tough texture and the inside was mushy. I didn't care for this.

The asparagus was great. They were crunchy, which some people may not like, but I do and had a good garlic flavor. A very healthy dish!!



Next I got the all beef hot dog with bacon. Now the hot dog wasn't good. It was overcooked, no snap, and pretty bland. But to give McConnell the benefit of the doubt, I did place my order with them and then went back to my seat and ate something else. So the hot dog may have been sitting there for a long time. I wanted to try as many things as possible so I didn't go back for another hot dog.




The egg rolls and chicken sandwich were up next. I got bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomatoes on the chicken sandwich. Perfectly grilled chicken breast, melted cheese, fresh toppings. A great chicken sandwich!! The egg rolls had cabbage, carrots and maybe some broccoli and were dry fried. Nice, crispy and huge!!!



The meat entree was a garlic chicken. I got the chicken breast and I found it to be dry. Nice flavor but I needed some gravy to moisten it up. I wouldn't go back for seconds on this chicken.

Since it was Friday the dining room was pretty empty; I didn't see as many snotty rich kids as I did on my first visit.

Service was pretty good. I know Friday dinners are tough to prepare for since kids leave campus or go out to eat. They don't want to cook too much food and let it go to waste. But the food was quickly refilled when the serving stations were empty. But that wasn't the case for forks and knives. I had to ask the lady who was refilling the salad bar that they were out of forks at both stations!!

I also was a bit put off by the cashier. The first time I went the cashier was very nice. The cashier on Friday was a bit standoffish. The weird thing was I gave her a $10 bill and she gave me back a dollar bill and four quarters in change. I saw her register and saw she had a lot of bills. Why she gave me four quarters is beyond me. At first when I saw her reaching for the quarters, I thought maybe the price went back to $8.50. But no the price was the same. So why did she give me quarters? Now this isn't a big deal or deal breaker but come on, you have a ton of dollar bills, no need to give me quarters.

Honestly if vegetarian night was my first dining experience at McConnell, I wouldn't have given a glowing review, like I did for steak night. I would say overall it was good but nothing great. The clam chowder and asparagus were the only two items that I thought was great. But nothing else totally wowed me like everything on steak night.

I wouldn't go back for dinner on Friday but have no problem returning for dinner on Sunday.