Saratoga, California Since
1955
Dining
| Good Samaritan Hospital employee Deanne Tauanuu helps herself to a special dessert created for the Independence Day holiday at the hospital cafeteria. |
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Good Samaritan cafeteria is a far cry from 'hospital food' By Suzanne Cristallo The tasteless hospital cafeteria food of yesteryear has undergone a transformation. At Good Samaritan Hospital, located at the San Jose/Los Gatos border, diners are being surprised with spicy pastas, sushi, freshly brewed teas, quesadillas and enticing vegetarian entrees. A new executive chef has been given a free hand with the menu, and the cafeteria serving both hospital staff and the public is reaping the benefits. "They brought me here to bring up patient satisfaction with food," says New York City native Bill Citelli, who grew up in the Italian tradition of cooking in the kitchen with his mother and grandmother. He also has several decades of experience in restaurant ownership and has catered at the San Jose Arena. "I'm trying to totally revamp all recipes, because the health care system has evolved to where you don't need bland food." He says that patient diets used to be approached from a therapeutic point of view and were not practical for using at home. As a result, there are big changes going on in the Good Samaritan kitchen, which is self-operated - a rarity in a healthcare business rife with catering companies. Running down to the cafeteria is now like going to a restaurant. "Actually, the food is rather impressive," says regular customer Phil Fraher, a Good Sam engineer. Where once tri-tip with mashed potatoes au jus, peas and onions and chicken noodle soup were the staples, now there is spicy Montreal pasta with broccoli, braised beef with mushrooms and three-onion and tomato soup. "I took a survey and found people wanted more soups," Citelli says. He put in 20 soups, ranging from New England clam chowder to beef barley. Stella Wai, an operations coordinator in Nutritional Services, who has weathered 33 years of changes with Good Sam and San Jose Medical Center, says the most dramatic change in eating she has seen came with the trend toward vegetarianism. "There's a big demand for it among the staff, and doctors want to stick to healthy diets," she notes. "Yeah, while they're glomming my cookies," Citelli jokes. At any rate, the trend is now reflected in the cafeteria and patient menus, which include a different vegetarian soup every day. "Vegetarians are a very vocal group," Wai concludes. Beyond vegetarians, the hospital population includes a diverse cross section of ethnic groups, all wanting their native food. "They either want more Greek, more Chinese or less Chinese, and more Indian," Citelli says. "So I'll have a Chinese Day, a Mexican Day, an Italian Day and so on." Wai has succeeded in bringing Miyaki Restaurant to the cafeteria every Thursday to serve sushi and perform a sushi-making demonstration. Every month has a theme. July, of course, is "patriotic" month, with picnic fare such as fried chicken, watermelon, barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs. And the Chinese food is authentic, including dishes such as rice porridge. Cooks Henry Chan and George Leung will whip up special dishes on request. "But we're not brave enough for 1,000-year-old eggs yet," Wai says, laughing. — Good Samaritan Hospital Cafeteria, located at 2425 Samaritan Drive, is open daily for breakfast 7:30-10 a.m., lunch 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and dinner 4-7 p.m. For more information, call 408.559.2401. |
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