Editor,
After reading David Martinez's letter Wednesday about his experience with Chartwells at New Mexico Tech, I felt the need to share my experience as well.
I also went to New Mexico Tech a few years ago and transferred here. What I am about to say are just my experiences that I can accurately remember and generalizations that may or may not be true. But I do want to get the point across - La Posada is much, much better than others have it.
First of all, it seems there were two guidelines the chefs at Chartwells followed: If a meal was an overwhelming success, never serve it again. The second was to never throw anything away.
Here's an example. One day, Chartwells had a stir-fry day. A chef actually had a table set up with a wok and cooked an assortment of meats and vegetables. Combined with teriyaki or soy sauce and freshly cooked rice, it was very tasty and popular with everyone. However, this was never done again for the two years I was there.
To back up my second rule, let me tell you the meals Chartwells might have typically served. On one day, say they had chicken-fried steak. The next day, they had Salisbury steak, but it really was the same chicken from the meal before cooked in some kind of sauce or gravy they made up.
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Nearly every day, they had the same vegetables that hardly anyone ate. I could imagine they kept those around for a few days and then put them into their disgusting soups.
Chartwells also had a salad bar, but the lettuce was wilting most of the time. Their salad toppings were old and stale. Their sandwich bar was not much different; the same meats and cheeses were left out for days. The cheese was hard. The only thing they did when they closed these bars was cover the food with plastic wrap.
What was worse was the fly problem, which was apparently caused by a gaping hole in the ceiling somewhere in the back of the building. There were flies on the tables eating crumbs, in the air and on the meats and cheeses in the sandwich bar. Sometimes, they were even on the food where the main course was served, if the cooks were not around to shoo them away.
Things changed a bit at New Mexico Tech right before I left. They got a new student union building and a new dining hall. The meals improved a bit, as well. Perhaps it was mismanagement, or New Mexico Tech lacked the funds for food services. I couldn't say if things would be so horrible here if UNM gives the food contract to Chartwells.
But I do know the food at La Posada is not bad. I was actually pleased to find a decent selection of food that actually looked edible and smelled fresh, although it was still a tad expensive for $7. All I'm really saying is there are many worse food providers out there, and Aramark just might be as good as it gets.
Chris Cuellar
UNM student
