"Vegetarian Dankness Station" spices up Chase
Alycia Buchheit '10
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: Features
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Weinstein, a vegetarian, was recently hired by Aramark after approaching the manager about his issue falling asleep in class due to lack of protien.
"They must have had a job for me," said Weinstein who was the head chef at a tofu restaurant in his hometown in Oregon. He was hired on the spot and had changes in mind for the stir fry station.
The key ingredients are spices in place of the normal stir fry sauces because of artificial chemicals. "I like spiciness in the sense of a lot of flavor," as opposed to the spiciness of hot peppers, said Weinstein.
The other tricks of the trade include vinegar, which prevents the tofu from burning, and nutritional yeast, which is used to change the texture of the tofu.
Upon approaching the Vegetarian Dankness Station, Weinstein will ask if you want black beans, rice or pasta with your tofu. And then how spicy you like your tofu.
From there, Weinstein literally just starts throwing spices on the tofu. He doesn't have any recipe or system, he just puts on whatever he feels is right.
After hearing that, I knew I would definitely have to trust Ben when I ordered my tofu. I ended up getting tofu with black beans and mushrooms. As Weinstein was throwing spices around in the pan, he explained that he's going for a "southwest flavor" with my dish, using chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and oregano.
Weinstein explained that "vegetables are naturally really bland, especially the cheap shit Chase buys, so you have to use as many spices as possible."
When my tofu was done cooking, I was impressed with the product: a sweet smelling, mildly spicy dish. The beans mingled well with the spices and the tofu, which ended up being incredibly flavorful, as Weinstein had promised.
Hey, it's no Fire and Ice, but Weinstein easily knocks normal Chase food out of the park.
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