Annual Friday Night Café to feature Greek, Filipino cuisine

Northwest Missouri State University students studying food and nutrition are back this fall with the program’s Friday Night Café, serving guests internationally inspired meals and décor. 

Students will host two café nights, giving guests a taste of Greece on Friday, Nov. 7, and Filipino cuisine on Friday, Nov. 14. The café opens at 5 p.m. both nights on the third floor of the Administration Building. 

Tickets are $18 and available to purchase online by clicking here. Seating is limited to 50 guests per evening.  

The Greek menu will feature main dishes of herb-roasted olives and tomatoes, fried zucchini and tzatziki, chicken souvlaki skewers and Mediterranean dream lasagna. Side dishes include pita with a house-made hummus and Mediterranean quinoa crunch. The menu also offers a variety of salads and desserts. 

The Filipino menu offers main entrées of hot and tender adobo chicken and juicy pork pancit. It also features side dishes of crispy garlic fried rice, vivid and savory vegetable kare-kare, fresh crunchy spring rolls and warm and fluffy pandesal. 

Friday Night Cafés satisfy the lab requirement for students enrolled in Northwest’s quantity foods course, taught by Kelli Wilmes, who is the director of the University’s dietetics program. 

“It’s something that’s unique where you take culture and quantity foods and mesh them together,” Wilmes said. “They get to do things besides just cooking food. They get to learn about a new culture. They get to try different foods. They get to decorate. They kind of get the whole experience.” 

Kelli Wilmes, right, assisted students as they prepared food during a Friday Night Café last year. (Photo by Lilly Cook/Northwest Missouri State University)

Students separate into management committees, which are then responsible for budgeting, marketing, grocery shopping and decorating the café.  

All aspects of the evening – including the theme, menu selection, pricing and décor – are prepared by management teams of students. The profession-based experience helps students practice skills in safe and healthy food preparation as well as management, teamwork, organization, budgeting, crisis and quality management. 

Sophie Stieferman, a senior food and nutrition major with a dietetics emphasis from Jefferson City, Missouri, is working with the team organizing the Filipino-themed night. After graduating from Northwest, she plans to apply to a graduate program at Northwest and become a registered dietitian. She hopes to work in a clinical or dialysis setting. 

“This experience will help me to prepare for my future career since there are some dietitians that work hand-in-hand with the kitchen staff,” Stieferman said. “It's very important for dietitians to guide and advise the kitchen staff to make sure that everything is running smoothly.”

Hannah Thacker, a senior food and nutrition major with a dietetics emphasis from Bennington, Nebraska, is on the team preparing the Greek-inspired night. After graduation, she plans to pursue a master’s degree. 

Even for students who may not work in food service, Thacker said the Friday Night Café helps them learn how to plan and execute a large event.  

“I am very excited to see everything come together,” Thacker said. “I think it will be a fun night, and I can’t wait to see all of our hard work come into fruition.” 

For more information about Northwest’s foods, nutrition and dietetics programs, click here.