At the University of Washington's McMahon Hall, anyone can join dorm residents in choosing from eight different food concepts, including Mongolian at "Jangar," where much of the food is prepared on this dramatic flat-top grill.

Recently, I visited the dining room in McMahon Hall at the University of Washington, and everything I thought I knew about college cafeterias is now officially obsolete. An herb garden has sprouted on the roof, and where only processed food once stood lifeless in stainless-steel steamer trays, a dazzling array of fresh food has blossomed in its place. Nursing homes and hospitals have yet to surrender, but one of the last bastions of prefab-food-from-the-past may have been conquered.

The revolutionary behind this dramatic change is executive chef Jean-Michel Boulot. A refugee from the white-table-cloth world of fine dining, no one could have been more capable — or more unlikely — than Boulot. In France, Boulot wore the top toque at the Michelin-rated Restaurant La Dariole. He was executive sous chef for the celebrated Ma Maison at the Hilton International in Bangkok, and executive sous chef at two Ritz-Carlton hotels. In the Northwest he spent time at Vancouver's Restaurant Le Beaujolais and brought considerable attention to Earth & Ocean Restaurant in Seattle's W Hotel. So it was more than a little stretch for Boulot to assume the mantel of ordinariness we associate with college cafeterias.
 

UW Food Service executive chef Jean-Michel Boulot took note of the wide-open, bare-concrete deck at McMahon Hall and got permission to start an herb garden with donations from local nurseries. Herbs are just some of many fresh ingredients used at the UW now.

Bringing a real chef to the university was the brainchild of Paul Brown, director of Housing and Food Service. The university had approved a multimillion-dollar makeover of the food program, and Brown knew he would need outside expertise to make it work. "We considered using a consultant," he says, "but a consultant would have come in, made the changes and left us to founder; we needed someone who would stick around and see the project through. We wanted to break out of the box and have someone totally creative."

As executive chef at Earth & Ocean, Boulot was perceived as almost too creative. Northwest food aficionados were dubious about an outsider offering haute cuisine at haute prices in the swank new hotel. He experimented with unconventional cuts such as lamb necks and served dishes like Barbecued Frogs' Legs with Szechuan Pepper Glaze. Still, he gained a following and tremendous respect from his staff. So how did it feel to step into institutional dining?

"Even though the department heads were encouraging, it was impossible for them to understand what I wanted to do," Boulot recalls. "Instead of buying frozen side dishes and precooked meats, I wanted to roast the meat for sandwiches and bring in fresh local produce. They couldn't imagine how it would work."

Together, Boulot, Brown and their staff developed themes to build menus around. For the Husky Den at The Hub, they started with the existing Subway outlet and went from there. Surveys said this was the sort of food students wanted: fast, easy to understand and reasonably healthy. Students also said that if they could add a chain, it would be Pagliacci Pizza, so the university negotiated a contract to bring in a franchise. Then, the creative team developed six new eateries featuring everything from contemporary American home cooking to spicy Chinese.
 

	James Watkins, left, ran a popular Madison Valley restaurant before taking charge of the UW's North Campus food service. Eric Leonard, who came from the well-respected Hunt Club in Seattle, presides over the Central Campus operation.

At McMahon Hall, the old cafeteria is now known as "8 at McMahon." Mesher Shing Associates, the designers responsible for award-winning properties such as Andaluca, remade the 650-seat cafeteria into a series of comfortable upholstered nooks and open spaces where views of Lake Washington are framed by original art.

Instead of cookie-cutter repeats of The Hub outlets, new ideas were generated. "The Nook," which offers a "bevy of breakfast cereals," presented a challenge because the cereals are put out in large, home-style boxes. This was a radical mind-shift for a crew used to individual-portion-sized packs — one of the mini-revolutions Boulot fought. There is Mediterranean cuisine and Mongolian. "The Broiler Zone" is modeled after an American diner, while "Wild Greens" is a salad bar offering homemade soups. There's also a gourmet deli, bakery and espresso bar as well as "Seconds," which offers ready-made meals when there's no time to wait. Pagliacci is the eighth outlet.

The overall impression is that of a food court at a suburban mall — so the students are completely in their comfort zone — but everything is prepared from scratch in the university's kitchens and finished to order on the spot.

"The biggest challenge at first was the labor," recalls Boulot. "They were a bunch of sweet people doing just what they had done for 20 years: opening packages and putting the contents into a steamer, then scooping up processed food and putting it on plates. No one was really cooking."

So Boulot pulled together a formidable team of chefs from area restaurants. James Watkins, who serves as North Campus Dining executive chef, was best known for stylish American food at his Madison Park eatery, Jimmy's Table. Tracey MacRae, sous chef now, had a devoted following at The Kingfish Caf_And Central Campus Dining executive chef Eric Leonard had established himself at The Hunt Club in Seattle's Sorrento Hotel.

Watkins says the university job is "the most rewarding work I've ever done in the food-service business. . . We're really doing something meaningful, bringing real change to a part of the industry that desperately needs it, and providing real food to real people."

"There are so many good parts about working here," says MacRae, "that it's hard to say what the best part is. But right now, I'd have to say it's the staff — seeing them wake up to how fun it can be to cook great food."

Leonard put it this way: "I'm feeding 5,000 people a day with fewer than three complaints a month; that's success by any measure. And these are college kids; they're genuinely hungry. It's so much more gratifying to feed these people than to try and satisfy a jaded diner in a fine-dining restaurant."

"We knew when we began," says Paul Brown, "that we had only one chance to get it right."

It would seem they did.