SFSU Magazine Fall/Winter '04 Campus Beat: Vista Room

Bon Appetit
Lamb chops with rosemary merlot sauce or smoked salmon and rock shrimp fettucine in lemon dill cream? The Vista Room, SFSU's student-run fine dining restaurant, consistently presents such difficult choices for its patrons.

Located on the fourth floor of Burk Hall, the restaurant offers diners an elegant yet affordable epicurian experience while it prepares students for careers in the food service industry.

Under the careful watch of faculty in both hospitality management and consumer and family studies/dietetics classes, students operate like true professionals. Waiters keep a careful eye on diners and make frequent rounds with water pitchers and baskets of freshly baked bread. There are no tips. Good service is rewarded with a good grade.

During a Monday lunch rush, Vista Room founder Janet Sim, chair of the hospitality management department, sings the praises of resident chef Daniel Honan, who directs students in the kitchen: "Everything is homemade, fresh. All soups and sauces are made from scratch." She points to a stunning flower arrangement created by a group of interior design students. Then two VIPs appear at the doorway.

Sim pauses and fixes her gaze on a student waiter as he seats SFSU President Robert A. Corrigan and former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown at a back table. She glances back only once and returns to her meal, confident that the two are in
good hands.

For more information: www.sfsu.edu/~vista