Danny Lee of food services shows the space that will soon be a servery again.

Two kinds of taste at Davis eatery . . . -- by Barbara Elve

Renovating a campus kitchen involves more than just updating appliances and applying a fresh coat of paint. These days, designers take centre stage in the process, with the initial design "the most important part of the project," says Jeff Chalmers, assistant director with UW Food Services.

He's overseeing the design work for improvements this summer to Bon Appetit and Tim Horton's in the Davis Centre. Since the facility was built 18 years ago, the number of patrons -- students, faculty and staff -- has mushroomed, tastes have changed, and food safety regulations have been revised.

To accommodate these changes, Food Services turned to LTD Consulting Group in Guelph, with Toronto-based Cricket Design Company as interior consultants. They're the people behind the design of Browsers, Bookends Cafe, and the CEIT Café, as well as the re-design of food facilities at Ron Eydt Village.

"We give them a concept; they look at the space," explains Chalmers. "They come back with a plan, then we go back and forth."

The new design in Davis will incorporate an addition on the north side of the building to house food storage. Other behind-the-scenes work will bring the facility into compliance with current food safety practices, including a re-jig of the washrooms and the installation of five designated hand-washing sinks.

"Traffic flow is the biggest consideration," says Chalmers, and the check-out counters have been moved against the walls to speed payment.

. . . fast food and performance cuisine

"Millennials want to eat on the run," says Chalmers, and to facilitate a quick stop for soup, salad, sandwich or other fast food, the "grab and go" section of Bon Appetit will be beefed up and consolidated along the south wall.

Across the floor, Chopsticks will be 50 per cent larger with an expanded menu of Chinese and Vietnamese fare, and the Jolly Chef will continue to offer its lineup of "old favourites" -- fish and chips, hamburgers and poutine -- along with salads and vegetarian dishes, and a new daily special. To make way, Mr. Sub has been eliminated.

Waiting in line will be more pleasant, with windows facing the south corridor added to improve lighting. Windows at the east end will allow queuing patrons to watch Chopsticks dishes being cooked. Performance cuisine is a popular concept, says Danny Lee, assistant director (cash operations), who points to an interest in TV cooking shows. As well, people are interested in learning how food is prepared, and want to know that it is really fresh.

At Tim's, more floor space will allow the coffee shop to add toasted bagels and iced cappuccino to the menu.

Having a servery function well is crucial, says Chalmers, but it needs to make the food look delicious, too. Design boards prepared for the makeover include samples of materials with a range of warm, earthy colours and finishes, from tongue-and-groove bamboo and tiny red glass tile for the Chopsticks counter to the red ceramic wall tile and funky lighting of the Jolly Chef, to the beige, brown and grey-striped Marmoleum, an environmentally-friendly floor covering.

With revenues increasing from $200,000 per year 18 years ago, to $1.6 million now, the renovations should allow for continued growth, Lee adds. Renovation of the adjoining dining room is slated for sometime within the next year. So far, the transformation of Bon Appetit is on schedule, with the eatery set to reopen on August 22.

Grad students defend their theses

Here's the latest list of graduate students who will be defending their doctoral theses, the last step on the road to a PhD:

Systems design engineering. Issmail Ellabib, "Design and Analysis of Ant Colony System Based Approaches for Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows." Supervisors, O. Basir and P. Calamai. On display in the faculty of engineering, CPH 4305. Oral defence Wednesday, July 13, 1 p.m., Davis Centre room 1331.

Biology. Mark Allan Lampi, "Environmental Photoinduced Toxicity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Occurrence and Toxicity of Photomodified PAHS and Predictive Modeling of Photoinduced Toxicity." Supervisor, B. M. Greenberg. On display in the faculty of science, ESC 254A. Oral defence Thursday, July 14, 2 p.m., Biology I room 266.

Chemical engineering. Mohammad Elias Biswas, "Adsorption Dynamics at Air-Liquid Interfaces." Supervisors, P. Chen and I. Chatzis. On display in the faculty of engineering, CPH 4305. Oral defence Thursday, July 14, 2 p.m., Engineering II room 1307G.

Systems design engineering. Insop Song, "Control Scheduling Scheme Design for Real-Time Systems." Supervisor, F. Karray. On display in the faculty of engineering, CPH 4305. Oral defence Monday, July 18, 9 a.m., Engineering II room 1307C.

Systems design engineering. Yu Sun, "Fuzzy Methodology for Enhancement of Context Understanding." Supervisors, F. Karray and O. Basir. On display in the faculty of engineering, CPH 4305. Oral defence Wednesday, July 20, 2 p.m., Engineering II room 1307C.

Chemistry. Daniel V. Fishlock, "The Catalytic Intramolecular Friedel-Crafts Acylation of Meldrum's Acid Derivatives and the Total Synthesis of Taiwaniaquinol B." Supervisor, E. Fillion. On display in the faculty of science, ESC 254A. Oral defence Thursday, July 21, 2 p.m., Chemistry II room 361.

Applied mathematics. Sehjeong Kim, "Switching Systems with Delayed Feedback Control." Supervisors. S. A. Campbell and X. Z. Liu. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC 5090. Oral defence Tuesday, July 26, 10 a.m., Math and Computer room 5158.

Electrical and computer engineering. Amirreza Khajehnasiri, "A Generalized 2-D Multiport Model for Planar Circuits with Slots in Ground Plane." Supervisor, S. Safavi-Naeini. On display in the faculty of engineering, CPH 4305. Oral defence Thursday, July 28, 10:30 a.m., CEIT building room 3142.

Electrical and computer engineering. Jeong-Jin Lee, "Autoregressive Parameter Estimation with Embedded Order Selection in Arbitrary Noise." Supervisor, G. H. Freeman. On display in the faculty of engineering, CPH 4305. Oral defence Tuesday, August 2, 1 p.m., CEIT room 3142.

English. Erin MacDonald, "Collective Hero: The Rhetoric of Realism in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct Series." Supervisor, Victoria Lamont. On display in the faculty of arts, HH 317. Oral defence Friday, September 23, 10 a.m., Humanities room 373.

C&PA