A long line trickled the door as the aroma of Mexican cuisine surrounded the F building.

Students and staff were smelling the first Wildcat Cafe of the year.

Advanced culinary students, along with the culinary competition squad, teamed up to serve customers a gourmet Mexican lunch on Oct. 2. The menu consisted of enchilada style burritos, Mexican rice, tortilla chips and salsa, and flan for dessert.

“I’m in Culinary II and working the Wildcat Cafe is an essential skill for the course. It’s really stressful but a lot of fun when the turnout is great. It was really good for the first one,” Celina Alba said.

Students and teachers filled room F7 to get their meal that only cost them $5.

“Lunch is $3.25 and it doesn’t taste good. You’re paying a little over a dollar more for something that’s fresh and delicious. It’s so worth the money,” Toby Martinez said.

Tickets go on sale a couple of weeks before the cafe and ticket sales end the Friday before the lunch. There are reminders for a couple of weeks on the morning announcements and the dates of the cafes on the calendar in the culinary classroom. Students have insisted that tickets be sold at the door but culinary instructor Mrs. Carissa McCrory explains why that is not an option.

“Wildcat Cafe is banquet style. I buy food for however many students are coming. Some weeks we will have 10 people join us and other days we will have 40 people so I never have too little food because that’s unprofessional. On the other hand I don’t want too much because that’s a waste of money,” McCrory said.

Students seemed to enjoy themselves, and many students mentioned they would come back to the next one.

“It was my birthday [on Thursday] and while I was eating the staff came out and sang Happy Birthday to me. It was really cool and I felt like it was a real restaurant,” Jessica Short said.

Teachers were also impressed with the turnout of the cafe.

“The kids were super nice and they were actually waiting on us. They were really professional; they kept coming back and asking us if we needed anything. I enjoyed myself,” Mrs. April Steele said.

The next Wildcat Cafe is Oct. 22 during lunch where the culinary staff will be serving an Italian style meal.

by DESIREE STONE