On a recent Tuesday night my husband and I ventured to New Rochelle to enjoy a 3-course fine dining experience. You wouldn’t know there was a restaurant here if you drove by because it is hiding inside the local college. Monroe College has a culinary program and a functioning restaurant, The Dining Lab at Monroe College. On select Tuesday evenings throughout the year, they open to the public for a fine dining experience.
How do you get reservations?
You can call or email to get reservations. There are three seatings, 6:30 PM, 6:45 PM and 7 PM and they are only booking parties of four or less. I emailed my reservation request a couple of weeks in advance. A few days after I emailed, I received a confirmation phone call.
What exactly is The Dining Lab?
The Dining Lab is a student-run restaurant. Dean Constantino oversees the kitchen during dinner service. However, the senior culinary students are the ones preparing your dinner while the hospitality students are the ones taking orders, bringing dishes out, clearing the table, etc. The dining room has a partial view of the kitchen, depending on where you are seated, so you can see the students hard at work.
The dining room has twelve tables that seat up to four guests and they were all filled the night of our visit. I will mention that the acoustics in the space aren’t great. With the dining room filled with guests, it did get fairly loud.
What type of food is served?
The Dining Lab serves Contemporary American cuisine. The menu changes monthly and utilizes farm-fresh produce. While the Dean creates the menus, the students learn to execute it.
Prior to making reservations, I did make sure to check the menu out. While there were several vegetarian starters to choose from, there were no vegetarian main courses. Although I am a pescatarian, my husband usually follows a vegetarian diet. This was one of the few occasions where he decided to eat seafood. And boy did we enjoy a seafood dinner!
I chose the Lobster Risotto to start. This was my favorite dish of the evening! Not only was the portion large, but the risotto included a generous portion of lobster pieces.
While my husband ordered the House-made Swedish-Cured Salmon. This was delicious too (because, of course, we shared!); I just wish they served it with more crackers.
For our main dishes we shared the Squid-ink Spaghetti a la Chitarra with stuffed calamari, fresh tomato passata and garlic and herbs. Although it appeared my calamari were unstuffed, with the stuffing on the side!
My husband ordered A Tasting of Low Country Gullah Cuisine which included a piece of striped bass on a fish and grits cake. It had a shrimp sauce made with fresh tomatoes, okra, hot and sweet peppers, simmered cabbage and onions. This dish had some heat to it!
These were the only two non-meat main dishes (the other choices included a chicken dish, pork milanese and a duo of duck). Both of our main dishes were excellent as well.
Once your main course is finished, your server will bring you the dessert menu.
I ordered the Matcha Strawberry Tiramisu.
And my husband had the Poaches & Herbs. This was sous vide peaches served with a peach lavender jelly, herb honey, whipped ganache and a peach sorbet. This was on of my husband’s favorite dishes of the evening!
The Experience
Upon entering the restaurant, the host pulled out my chair for me. I first sat with my back to the kitchen. Our table had a partial view of the kitchen, so I switched my seat to get a better view of the action. Once we were seated an amuse bouche was brought out.
Our server, Anna, introduced herself and brought us our menus and a basket of homemade bread.
Alcohol is not served at the restaurant, however guests are invited to BYOB. Red wine is kept at the table, while they have an ice bucket to chill your bottle of white wine. They have a variety of non-alcoholic beverages including different sodas, sparking water and apple juice.
I have to admit that there was a long wait time between courses. Service was great, though, and Anna came out to apologize for the delay with dessert. Although they try to stagger the arrival times so they don’t get backed up, it seemed like the kitchen was very backed up the evening of our visit.
After our dinner, the check was brought with a mignardise (a plate of bite-sized cookies to enjoy). Professor Luna supervises the dining room during the evening and is the one who processes the credit cards.
Some Final Parting Thoughts
My husband and I had such a great time at The Dining Lab at Monroe College. Our dinner was delicious! And it is a steal at $29.95 each for a 3 course dinner!
However, please only visit this restaurant if you have patience and an open mind. These are students who are learning via hands-on experience. These students are paying in both time and tuition to “work” in The Dining Lab. However, they don’t get the financial satisfaction of earning a paycheck or bringing home tips after a very busy night’s work. But please do tip and tip generously. Gratuities support the Monroe College foundation which helps fund the college’s study-abroad programs to Italy.
The Details:
The Dining Lab at Monroe College
434 Main Street
New Rochelle, NY
website
Hours: Dinner is served on Tuesday nights
There are 3 seatings – 6:30 PM, 6:45 PM and 7:00 PM
Dinner is by reservation only
Reservations: Call (914) 740-6421
Email: reservations@monroecollege.edu
Parking: Guests can park in the Monroe College Franklin Parking Lot (directions are on the website)
There is also paid street parking available
Price: The current 3 course Pre-Fixe menu is $29.95
Other info:
*They are currently taking reservations of a maximum of 4 people per table.
*No alcohol is served, but you can BYOB.
*Coffee, tea and other beverages are available for an additional cost
*The last service for the summer was July 27. However, reservations will open up again in the fall, once the semester starts.
*Although there is no dress code, be mindful that this is a fine dining experience. Although guests weren’t super dressed up, I would recommend not wearing jeans.