With talks for a new Starbucks already underway, negotiations to introduce an Asian-themed noodle bar are spicing up Duke Dining's menu.
Lemon Grass, a popular Southeast Asian restaurant based in Sacramento, Calif., may become a new addition to Duke's on-campus dining scene, confirmed Mai Pham, restaurant owner and renowned chef.
Kemel Dawkins, vice president of campus services, said although a Lemon Grass on campus is a possibility, discussion of the logistics of the project are "premature."
"We're constantly looking at the mix of dining opportunities in terms of the types of foods and how the foods are served," he said. "The goal obviously is to create a whole that brings variety in terms of food types and hours of operation, in addition to quality and freshness."
In the past five years, Lemon Grass has expanded onto college campuses. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of California at Davis, signature Lemon Grass dishes have been integrated into the dining menu. In August, the University of California at Berkeley debuted Star Ginger, a university spin-off of the original restaurant.
Efforts to open some variation of Lemon Grass in the Bryan Center have been headed by Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst and have been in the works for two years, Pham said.
Wulforst did not respond to requests for comment.
Chris Roby, director of the Office of Student Activities and Facilities, said he believes Wulforst intends to use the space currently occupied by OSAF offices to house the retail restaurants, but added that he is unaware of any formal plans to relocate OSAF.
"Mr. Wulforst has talked to me for two years now, so I've got that on our calendar to do," Pham said. "So we are talking right now in terms of trying to look into what kind of operating partnership we can have to launch the project successfully."
Pham said she is enthusiastic about the project and hopes her restaurant can provide quality ethnic dining on Duke's campus.
"The university dining environment has one of the most innovative, most discriminating clientele, meaning that students are quite adventurous-more so than out in the general marketplace," she said.
With five years of college dining experience on her side, Pham said she is confident that a restaurant like Lemon Grass can succeed given the opportunity.
"Students are very particular about what they want," she said. "They like new things, they have very international pallets, they care about the quality of the food [and] they certainly care about health and wellness."
Pham said prices for dishes would likely range from $5.50 to $7.95. Students would have the ability to choose from three families of dishes-noodle soups, salads and rice plates served with Thai curry or stew.
All dishes would be offered with the option of substituting chicken, beef, pork, shrimp or tofu and would be "healthy, wholesome and very rich in protein," Pham added.
Sophomore Cashida Okeke said a sit-down restaurant like Lemon Grass could provide students with a good opportunity to socialize in a dining environment.
"People are so busy during the day that they miss sound meals," she said. "If you sit down in a restaurant, it forces you to think about what you're eating and make more healthy eating decisions."
Though students voiced differing solutions to their concerns with Duke Dining, many said pricing, convenience and nutrition were issues they would like to see addressed with potential vendors.
"The whole dining thing is a business," sophomore Karim Butt said. "If they want kids to be eating healthy, they need to stop the business mentality and take some of the blow off the prices."
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