September 19th marked the annual Steak and Lobster night at RWU. During the prior weeks, students reserved their seats and got tickets for the big feast. The lobsters are supplied by the Newport Lobster Company. “We are paying about $10-25 dollars per pound, and we use a pound and a quarter lobster, so about $12.75 per lobster, and right now we have one thousand lobsters on order,” said Jonathan Cambra, Executive Chef for Roger Williams University and Bon Appetit Food Service Company. Cambra has been working to make this special night possible for the last ten years. In previous years, Steak and Lobster Night was in the spring, but this year was switched to the fall. The cold-water New England lobsters are fished in the Atlantic Ocean, right outside of Narragansett Bay. “It’s a great time for lobster. The waters are cool and cold,” Cambra remarked. “Our students get to enjoy a really nice meal and a traditional New England lobster.”
The process of preparing for the event is lengthy and begins a couple of weeks before the event. Menus are developed and orders are made. For the steaks to be ready to serve to the students, the twelve-pound cuts of beef striploin need to be trimmed, cleaned and cut into eight-ounce portions. “We are probably going to cut 700 steaks. That takes a long time,” said Cambra. Steak trimming happens two days before the event and is a continuous process. “It’s like a full weeks’ worth of work, 70 hours of work on average,” stated Cambra. On top of prepping for the big event, the kitchen staff needs to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner for all the other meal periods.
At 2 o’clock on Thursday, the lobsters arrive, and the rubber bands are taken off. “Some say that the rubber band taints the flavor of the lobster through the water. I don’t personally believe that, but my team likes to do it that way and we encourage them to do what they want to do and have fun with it” says Cambra. Taking rubber bands off 1,000 lobsters can be a tricky task.
The cooking of the lobsters starts at 2:30 so that everything will be ready for dinner to open at 4:30. Due to the large quantity of lobsters, several hundred need to be cooked at a time. Jonathan Cambra comments on the length of the process: “It’s a lot for us to do, but the students enjoy it and it’s a great thing that we get to put on.”
Carol Weddell, Service Crew Lead and registered diet technician has been working lobster night for the past nine years. Many students at Roger Williams University have never opened a lobster and need a little help. “That’s the cool thing… someone who’s never had a lobster, and I tell them to break this and crack this,” says Weddell. Living in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, it’s no surprise that Carol’s favorite food is lobster. Weddell describes the atmosphere with enthusiasm. “Lobster night is fun for us. It’s a great time. It’s something special and different.”
Executive Chef Jonathan Cambra notes the importance of food sustainability. “We always try to utilize our leftovers and rotate them into different menus.” Friday’s lunch after steak and lobster night features a lobster fra diavolo. Some of the other leftover lobster will make an appearance in a pasta sauté during the “Eat Local Challenge” hosted by Bon Appetit Dining on Tuesday September 24th.
The annual Steak and Lobster Feast is a much-anticipated event for Roger students, providing an opportunity for the campus community to gather and enjoy a special meal together.
