I love this place

Many who work on college campuses or live in university communities know that campuses provide lots of amenities. They sometimes go beyond the usual museum, play, or musical performance and move from entertainment and 'culture' to services. When we were at Pitt, for example, John and I got our teeth cleaned by dental students. Here at Illinois, we have discovered The Spice Box, a simulated restaurant space for restaurant management students. The food--get this--is not simulated, but is frequently rather delicious.

Twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, a senior in the restaurant management capstone course orchestrates a meal that he or she has painstakingly planned, including chef hiring, menu making, wine choosing, reservation taking, decorating, and organizing the wait staff. Oh, and visiting all the tables. It must be an exhausting night for the senior host whose 'performance' is evaluated by the diners. Each time we go John complains that he grades enough students, while I just rave away on the eval cards. The whole thing is just so charming I can't even stand it. At the Spice Box, I've never, ever had the water in my glass go more than an inch below the rim, and we're often seated near the student-host's family, usually down from a Chicago suburb, beaming and flashing pictures of the food. 

We have now had three meals at the Spice Box--there was an Irish theme, a seafood theme, and a spring theme (parallelism is apparently not required), and they've all been pretty darned good. Tonight, though, is "Bohemian Brannigan" night--aka Czech cuisine.

We of course invited Cathy, John, and Siggi along, since Cathy and John spent a year in Slovakia and are frequently nostalgic for their time there. I'm not sure whether the nostalgia is food-based, but after the student host, Tazio Kubbs, personally promised me he'd find a high chair for Siggi, they cheerfully agreed to come along.

What, you may ask, exactly is Czech cuisine? I had the same question, since my memories from my trip to Prague '96 (I was a vegetarian then) includes a lot of cheese and potatoes and even more wine mixed with pepsi.

Here's the text at the bottom of the menu, which is as political as I've seen these menus get:

The people of the Czech Republic, with inconsistent government and constant oppression grew accustomed to using innovative and inexpensive flavors in place of grand ingredients.  These flavors, relatively unfamiliar in Western culinary convention, combine in rustic and potent sauces which complement the strength of game meats common in this cuisine.  Sauerkraut and sour cream are also frequently implemented to cut the heavy components for discernibly effortless palatability.

Tonight's menu features ox tail soup, seared venison with lots of root vegetables, and squab. Does anyone know what squab is? My understanding is that it's pigeon. I sure do hope there's a lot of wine and pepsi to wash it down. We'll let you know how it was in the comments.

Comments

[bp]

Squab is indeed pigeon, or really "rock dove," although of course they are raised and bred as a food bird, so they are not like the pigeons pooping on the Lincoln statue in the quad. Love the menu text.

[collin]

I'll give you a dollar if you make that your blog's tagline: Discernibly effortless palatability since 2005...

[dhawhee]

Ha! The food seemed discernibly effortful, is all I'll say. John braved--and loved--the squab, and I thought the ox-tail soup was super delish. Very spicy.

The host also left a book about Czech culture on each table, all checked out from our library of course. :)

[Z]

It's kind of like Iron Chef over there. I want to go on the all-squab theme night. Mmmmm... squab ice cream...