The chefs at the dining hall put passion into Hoot ‘n’ Scoot’s new pop up theme dinners. Hoot ‘n’ Scoot is a great place to get a quick meal before or after class. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and on Friday it’s open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Students can enjoy a hot meal, soup, salad, sandwich or wrap. However, after a while, the Hoot ‘n’ Scoot has evolved and with that comes an evolution of a new menu. On Friday, February 28, the Hoot ‘n’ Scoot served its first themed meal, street tacos with all the sides you could want.
The tacos were beef, chicken, pork and veggie. They came three to a box and you could go to a sidebar that had all the fixings, which included cheese, jalapenos, sour cream and two types of salsa.
Students could even ask for a specially made taco if they didn’t like the ones in the box. The tacos came with sides, such as Spanish rice or black beans.
Executive Chef Troy Bellot was overjoyed to see how happy the students were when they came in and that some people used more than just the typical one-swipe at Hoot ‘n’ Scoot. Bellot said he has a great vision for themed dinner day for the Hoot‘n’ Scoot and wants to cater to all the needs of the students. Bellot stated,“We want to expand the Hoot ‘n’ Scoot so we are trying pop-up food concepts and looking for feedback from the students.”
Bellot also said that instead of only doing onions and peppers for veggie tacos, he wanted to find nopals, which are edible pickled cactus leaves. They are often eaten in veggie tacos. “It’s a little hard to find them in the Northeast, but we will get there,” Bellot stated.
Marketing Manager Caitlin Howell was very excited about the new food as well. “Our goal is to make sure that at least more than half the students coming in are satisfied,” Howell said.
Howell continued to talk about how their main goal is to make the students happy and satisfied with the food they are getting from Hoot ‘n’ Scoot, so they will be trying new themes every Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Keene state student Alana Lehouillier thought that the tacos were delicious. “I got all three types of meat,” Lehouiller explained. “They were really good, but I would prefer if they were seasoned more.”
She continued to talk about how the beef and chicken tacos were kind of dry, but the pork one was definitely the best out of them all. She also said the black bean side was delicious, but the Spanish rice was a bit bland.
Lehouillier still loved the idea behind it, and, with a few improvements, the themed food day could just keep getting better and better. “I love the theme food and they should keep doing it.”
Next week the theme will be “Absurd Bird” and they will have fried chicken with different sauces and sides!
Abigail Lashway can be contacted at ALashway@kscequinox.com
