Pendulum Court, the restaurant in the Eyring Science Center run by dietetics students, held a rock ‘n’ roll themed lunch on Wednesday as a way to attract more customers.
The restaurant featured “I Wanna Hold Your Handburger,” a gourmet burger stuffed with feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, and topped with mozzarella cheese, as its main dish. Sides such as “Jimi Hendrix’s Bleeding Heart,” a chilled fruity soup, and “Carry On My Wayward Scone,” a cinnamon and chocolate chip scone, were available as well.
Katie Aston, a post-graduate dietetics intern from Salt Lake City, was one of the interns in charge of the theme day. She said the restaurant likes to hold theme days twice a semester to have fun and attract new customers. To choose the theme, the interns started with the idea of a gourmet burger.
“We’ve seen a lot of trends toward gourmet burgers,” Aston said. “We wanted to do a burger, and thought the rock ‘n’ roll theme would fit that really well, and everything just kind of fell into place after that.”
All items on the menu were prepared from scratch, and recipes were developed specifically for the event. To begin, the interns came up with two different burgers, then had a taste panel decide which was better. After that, they had to rework the recipe, which was originally made in a small batch, to make enough for 150 burgers. A similar process occurred for all menu items.
Madeline Lindberg, a junior from Valencia, Calif., in the dietetics program, was managing Pendulum Court. She said although the atmosphere in a preparation meeting was more stressful than usual due to the high number of reservations, the kitchen atmosphere was more fun because they played music, and workers were allowed to wear a band T-shirt.
“Coming into the day I was a little stressed because I was thinking that this was a theme day, and it has to be good,” Lindberg said. “But really everything was so well prepared … it was actually fun today.”
Students attending Pendulum Court agreed it was a fun way to spend lunch. Ellie Hall, a senior from Chicago majoring in family life, said she had never been there before, but loved it.
“The food was delicious,” Hall said. “It might win out for my favorite place to eat on campus … I loved having the Beatles serenade me while I read trivia facts about different rock ‘n’ roll icons.”
Although Pendulum Court is less known on campus, many students agree it is a place that should not be missed, no matter if it is a theme day or not.
“I can’t believe I waited four years to go to Pendulum Court,” Hall said.
