Behind the Scenes of Cornell Dining: Meet Tashi Mondak

BY Noga Tenzin and Daniela Rojas

Tashi Mondak, who has worked as a Food Service employee at Cornell for over eight years, offers a perspective to students regarding the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of Cornell Dining: the time, effort and energy it takes to work in dining often goes unnoticed. What is unnoticed should often be appreciated, especially in the world of food service. Mondak’s role has changed overtime, from Statler hotel as dishwasher, to working in Mac’s Cafe and Cornell Catering, to his current job in Morrison Dining. He notes the differences in atmosphere within a particular eatery is largely dependent on the number of diners that come on a daily basis. Mac’s Cafe typically only has 1,000 people per day, whereas Morrison Dining can have up to 5,000.

Don’t Throw Your Education Away: Compost it Instead

Imagine this. You’ve just had a delicious breakfast at Morrison. You filled your plate high with steaming  pancakes and berries, tater tots, and a couple of hard-boiled protein-packed eggs. You even went back to the dessert bar for a waffle, but ended up only eating half. Now, you’re walking to the dish drop with your fork, a couple of dirty napkins, crumbled egg shells and that oddly enticing half-waffle.

BERNSTEIN | The Great Regional Delicacies of Upstate New York

Minimalism, maximalism, perfectionism — what power can an idea, or a concept, hold over a piece of artwork? I’d like to draw a geographical triangle to represent these concepts, or schools of thought: from the Southern Tier in Binghamton, to the top of the Finger Lakes in Rochester, connected by a corner in the jewel of Western New York, Buffalo.

Kelly’s Dockside: A Seaworthy Diner or a Sinking Establishment?

TripAdvisor has Kelly’s ranked #130 out of 138 restaurants listed in Ithaca, ranking #64 out of 65 for American restaurants. Immediately, I thought this was a hot take. I have made the occasional visit to Kelly’s for brunch and have always enjoyed it. What was I missing? I realized that the disconnect may not lie in the restaurant, but in the meal itself — I have only ever experienced Kelly’s brunch. I never got a chance to see what else they had to offer. So, on a warm, sunny evening in March, two friends and I set out Kelly’s Dockside to review their dinner.