Eating at the Hillside Café is like dining at a swanky, upscale restaurant. Hsiu-Pow Hwang, general manager and dietitian at Hillside Café and Market, works to give patrons an on-campus fine-dining experience, something rare to most college campuses.
“We want students, faculty and staff to have a place to come, relax and enjoy a good meal,” Hwang said. “We see them as our guests.”
The Hillside Café and Market, which replaced Wilmer-Davis Dining Center in 2004, offers a sit-down restaurant feel and a cook-to-order menu. With its acceptance of Cougar Cash, rather than just the Residence Dining Account, students, staff and faculty alike can enjoy a meal.
“A lot of faculty and staff eat here for lunch because it’s not too far from their workplace,” Hwang said.
About 2,200 patrons frequent the dining center each day, and Hwang’s favorite aspect of her job is interacting with them to get a feel for their perceptions. She roams the dining center floor, receiving feedback on likes and dislikes so she can improve the dining experience. She also gives quick tours to first-time patrons and helps out in the serving areas during peak lunch and dinner hours.
Input from patrons has caused the dining center to make changes in the short time it’s been in service, from increasing the variety of foods to improving prices. The Hillside Café has pizza, pasta, Asian cuisine, vegetarian cuisine, coffee, pastries, soups, salad and yogurt bars, and breakfast served until 11 a.m. An increase in price for food items compared to the former Wilmer-Davis Dining Center is countered with a 30 percent discount for RDA accounts.
Special diet needs
Hwang’s interest in serving the customer extends to designing menus. As a dietitian for WSU Dining Services, she uses her expertise in food and dieting when meeting with other Dining Services directors, managers, chefs and cooks to come up with menu items. They work to select items that will represent patrons’ needs while still satisfying their stomachs.
Hwang said the menus provide both healthy and high-fat items, but she expects most patrons have enough nutrition knowledge to choose a balanced meal. However, she is available to provide dietary advice to patrons with special circumstances or specific questions.
Although Hwang has been general manager of the Hillside Café and Market for less than a year, she has spent more than 14 years as a Dining Services employee. She started out as a supervisor at Wilmer-Davis Dining Center, worked in Central Production (now called Crimson Bake Shop), and spent many years managing the Regents Dining Center.
Dietary road to the Rose Bowl
During her time at Regents, which is also home to the Cougar Fitness Buffet where student athletes pay a flat fee for all-you-care-to-eat meals, Hwang enjoyed working with athletes to establish healthy diets for their active bodies.
“Players in each sport need different kinds of food,” Hwang said. “We need to provide a menu to fit everyone’s needs.”
After opening in 1994, the Cougar Fitness Buffet adopted elements of the University of Wisconsin’s athletic food program. Soon after, Wisconsin went to the Rose Bowl. Hwang said she remembers joking with WSU football trainers that it must have been the food that the UW players were eating. In 1998, WSU went to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years. Subsequent trips for WSU to the 2003 Rose Bowl, 2001 Sun Bowl and 2003 Holiday Bowl followed.
“See?” Hwang laughed. “Food makes a difference!”
Prepared to move
She is excited about the Regents Dining Center remodel, which is taking place now with reopening as the Northside Marketplace scheduled for August. When the Northside Marketplace opens, Hwang will become general manager there, returning to her old stomping grounds.
She has been active in planning the new facility. The Northside Marketplace will look similar to the Hillside Café, but will add a Chef’s Creation area, where chefs can practice their creativity with different recipes, and an International Cuisine area, where patrons will test out recipes from different cultures. The Cougar Fitness Buffet will turn into Cougar Fitness Café.
“It’s really exciting to participate in a project from the beginning,” she said. “When the Northside opens, there will be a focus on the upscale.”
At the Hillside Café and Market, Hwang sums up her job as simply providing good service, good food, a good environment and a good image. With an increase seen there in sales and patrons, she must be doing her job well.
