Our Crew Can Cook

Winter 2025
By Tracey Rhoades
Photos by Jeff Fitlow

Pioneering chef James Beard once said, “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” No group better exemplifies this sentiment than Rice’s chefs and dining staff who seek to make every meal a satisfying and mouthwatering experience. Driven by a commitment to serve an increasingly diverse student body with evolving eating habits and using feedback from students, Rice’s cadre of chefs sought to redefine their menus, marking a new culinary direction for Rice Dining, which serves over 10,000 meals a day. 

Inspired by food halls — a modular cafeteria-like configuration that gives patrons different food options in a communal environment — the chefs, including senior executive chefs Sing Yam and Joe Stayshich, used Houston’s award-winning global cuisine for inspiration to broaden their culinary horizons. 

The city’s unique diversity and thousands of ethnic restaurants, many close to campus, provided the perfect recipe for the chefs to easily explore international flavors. Their journey began in Asiatown in southwest Houston, an area known for many Asian and especially Vietnamese restaurants, followed by a trip to POST Houston, where ChòpnBlọk, a West African eatery founded by Ope Amosu ’14, introduced the team to African-inspired dishes. These “food trips” — which also included outings to Pakistani restaurants and the Houston Farmers Market, stocked with fresh ingredients from all parts of the world — culminated in a culinary throwdown where the chefs showcased what they had learned.
 

Honing their expanded culinary skill set, chefs Yam, Stayshich and Ernesto Perez, and team captain and Cohen House senior executive chef Susana Cabrera, then traveled in June to team competitions at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s annual Chef Culinary Conference. The team brought home a gold medal — proof that the culinary queries had paid off. 

“This experience as well as the field trips were instrumental in providing the inspiration we needed to elevate our offerings and enhance the dining experience for our students,” says Yam. 

Several of the new recipes are now showcased in campus serveries, which feature a mix of cuisines at stations named Owl Masala, El Rincon Caliente, Wok on Rice, Mezze, Global Bowl and Chef’s Table. Chef’s Table, in particular, features many of the new, uniquely crafted meals. 

This experience as well as the field trips were instrumental in providing the inspiration we needed to elevate our offerings and enhance the dining experience for our students.

“We created branded international stations that offer students comforting tastes from home, while introducing new cuisines and broadening their culinary experiences,” says Beth Leaver, senior executive director and chief hospitality officer in Rice’s Housing and Dining. 

A food ambassador program, made up of students from various colleges and the graduate community, was established to foster open communication and offer dining options that align with student expectations. Led by Kyle Hardwick, director of culinary excellence, and Faith Richards, assistant director of communications and marketing for Housing and Dining, the program gives students an opportunity to be involved at all levels from pot to plate. “Many students work in our kitchens, offering valuable insights,” Richards says. “By involving them in the cooking process and recipe testing, we can ensure that our offerings are accurately representative of their backgrounds and preferences.” 

This transformation wouldn’t have been as successful without the student liaisons, who are always eager to provide feedback — good and bad — from their peers, Richards says. “The program has made a positive difference in just one semester,” says sophomore food ambassador Alyssa Khor. “Seeing students enjoy these small but significant changes reinforces the importance of this program and builds a connection between us and the H&D staff.” 

Rice’s chefs continually research to stay current with constantly changing food trends, educating themselves and students. “Students are expressing what they like and what they don’t like more openly,” Yam says. “This shift reflects a broader awareness of dietary choices, and regularly monitoring these changes will be important for all of the chefs.” 

This year, the staff has noticed an increased demand for vegetarian and vegan options. To meet this need, a collaboration with the Rice Vegan Society enabled dining staff to expand plant-based options for World Vegan Month in November. “We introduced rotating plant-based stations at a different servery each week throughout the month,” Leaver says. “The response was very positive, and students appreciated the new offerings.” Moving forward, the staff plans to collaborate more closely with other student organizations like RASA (Rice African Student Association) and HACER (Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment at Rice) to represent their individual backgrounds and preferences. 

Regardless of what’s being served — comfort food or a taste of something new — the dining crew has created a dynamic and varied dining experience for all palates. “We’ve definitely turned over a new leaf,” Stayshich says. “These new food offerings at Rice are just a layer in the fabric and reflective of our diverse culture.” And while there’s no consensus on which dishes are the best, Stayshich concedes, “Houston provides a wealth of food knowledge, but Rice has a good thing going on right here.