JWU Culinary Students Serve Up New Dishes for Bruins and Celtics Fans

Boston Bruins and Celtics fans are gaining a culinary experience direct from JWU’s College of Culinary Arts. As part of a multi-year partnership between TD Garden, the Boston Bruins and JWU, the university’s culinary arts students have created menu items available for a limited time to the patrons of Legends, the private, members-only restaurant and bar located on level 3 of TD Garden.

The partnership, which names JWU as the Official Education Partner of the Boston Bruins and TD Garden, has several elements that connect to the university’s curriculum.

For the Legends menu items, students in the Chef-Driven Contemporary Casual Concepts course created items while adhering to the Legends criteria. Items needed to appeal to the large and diverse clientele, be easily executed to meet a high-volume customer demand, maintain high quality, and be cost-effective. Nearly a dozen recipes were submitted for consideration to Legends chefs and management who chose four that will appear on the menu this regular season.

"This experience allowed us to explore the reality of industry."

Currently on the menu are Essex Fried Clams, a nod to local cuisine, and Nashville Hot Chicken, a classic game-day favorite. Later this month two more JWU creations will appear on the menu. With an international flavor profile will be Pork Hand Roll, a hand-held gingery Asian bite, and Jerk Wings, a hot and spicy traditional island dish.

Chef and JWU instructor Matt Britt, CEC, led the students throughout the development of the menu items. “We’re training future chefs to go into industry with skills that will immediately impact the establishments where they work. Legends afforded our students with an experience that justifies the significance of their education to their future careers. Wait until we see what they will accomplish as graduates.”

“This experience allowed us to explore the reality of industry,” said Tian Dai, a junior in the College of Culinary Arts, who helped develop the recipe for the Nashville Hot Chicken. “We prepared dishes for real guests who are served in a high volume capacity during Bruins and Celtics games. We put a lot into our concept and it is exhilarating to see our dishes on a restaurant menu with our names on it.” Dai will be competing in the Fifth Annual Young Chef Olympiad 2019 in India and will be replicating the Nashville Hot Chicken dish that he and others developed for Legends.

“The partnership with culinary students from JWU has been rewarding,” said Chef Kevin Doherty, TD Garden’s executive chef and director of Food and Beverage for Delaware North Sportservice. “Adhering to a set criteria, students brought a fresh perspective to create menu items that appeal to Legends customers and enhance our game day dining experience at TD Garden. We expect the items, developed by these talented young professionals, will be well received. I look forward to the future contributions JWU students will make to our menu.”

In October, The Boston Bruins, TD Garden and JWU announced their partnership, which includes experiential education opportunities for current JWU students and a tuition benefit to Delaware North’s global workforce, TD Garden and the Boston Bruins.