By Chuck Martin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

No need to worry about the kids eating well at college. At university dining service facilities, they eat better than most of us: Sushi, Asian noodles, burritos, pasta, freshly baked breads and pastries and omelets made-to-order. They can eat this food almost any time (many dining facilities are open 24 hours), any day.

Now, students want plenty of food choices, and they want it freshly made.

Although most schools still offer the standard, three meal-a-day, meat loaf and mashed potato, buffet-style meals, the trend is toward the "taste station" concept - a food court with several cooking stations. Students can walk up to a wok station, for instance, custom order their stir-fry, and watch it being cooked.

Paying for college meals is easier, too. Most universities offer debit cards, allowing students to eat at the buffet or taste stations. And all of them accept cash or credit cards, so non-students are welcome.

What's cooking at Miami U.

Feta and Spinach Pasta

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives

1 10-ounce bag fresh spinach, stemmed and washed

1/2 teaspoon white pepper, or to taste

3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 pound (dry) lo mein, fettuccine or other wide noodles, cooked and drained

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Heat large pan on medium-high heat. Add olive oil and heat 10 to 15 seconds. Add olives, spinach, and white pepper. Stir often until spinach wilts.

Add broth and cook 30 seconds. Add noodles and cook another minute, stirring often. (Add more broth to keep noodles moist, if necessary.)

Just before serving, add feta and stir. Makes 2 to 3 servings.

Miami University Dining Services (Adapted)

UC student really cooks

Yun

University of Cincinnati MBA student Paul Yun has the best of both worlds when it comes to eating on campus. He lives minutes from UC's premiere MarketPointe at Siddall dining facility, which offers more options than most restaurants. And then there's his apartment.

Born in Korea, Yun grew up in Bakersfield, Calif., and Atlanta. He can whip up favorite Korean dishes, such as bulgogi (beef stir-fry), and also lasagna and Indian food.

"Cooking is a lot cheaper than going out all the time," Yun says. "And it's certainly more healthy."

His apartment in UC's graduate and family housing is equipped with a kitchen and a refrigerator. Yun buys groceries every few weeks, so he's ready to cook almost anytime.

"I cook whenever I feel like it or when I have too much work to do," says Yun, who prepares about half his meals in his apartment.

And he is not alone. International students who live in Yun's building cook Thai, Indian and other dishes of their homelands They've even hosted their own "Taste of Thailand" and "Taste of India."

"You smell all kinds of different foods in our halls sometimes," he says.

Bulgogi (Korean Beef Stir-Fry)

1 steak (such as sirloin or flank steak), about 1 pound, trimmed

8 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

1 teaspoon sesame seed

Black pepper, to taste

1 large onion, peeled and sliced thinly

1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil

Cooked white rice

Slice steak across the grain about 1/4 inch thick. Toss soy sauce, sugar, garlic, sesame seed oil, sesame seed and black pepper together in bowl. Add beef and toss. Add sliced onion and toss. Allow to marinate at least 1 hour.

Heat large pan or wok over high heat. Add peanut oil and stir-fry beef until just done. Serve over rice. Makes 4 servings.

Adapted from www.geocities.com

Call him Father Pasta

LaRocca

No offense to Xavier University's fine dining service, but the most popular place to eat on the X campus - at least on Friday nights - is at the Rev. John LaRocca's apartment.

Nearly every Friday night during the school year for more than 20 years, Father LaRocca, a professor and chair of the Xavier history department, has cooked pasta for dozens of students and friends.

The tradition began in 1982, when he began cooking for a group of fellow Jesuits on Fridays. "The price was right and it meant we didn't have to drive anywhere for dinner," says Father LaRocca, who learned to cook growing up in his Italian home in New York.

A few months later, when the delicious smells finally wore them down, other residents knocked on the door and offered to wash dishes - if they could eat pasta, too.

Father LaRocca agreed, and by the late 1980s, the university kicked in money to cover his food costs. Now his pasta dinner parties are legendary, even gaining mention in freshmen orientation sessions.

He serves pasta open-house style from about 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Fridays. For the larger early seating, Father LaRocca prepares a simple Alfredo sauce. Later, he cooks a more refined tomato sauce, sometimes with sausage.

Anywhere from 15 to 100 people may come to eat Alfredo. Another 15 to 20 show up for the second seating. Father LaRocca never really knows how many are coming to dinner.

"I tell them if they help clean pots, I might invite them to the nicer (tomato sauce pasta) meal," he says. His only rules: Bring your own plate and fork, and don't feed the dog (his 8 year-old beagle, Muskie).

Although Father LaRocca gets help washing pots and sometimes cooking pasta, it's still a big time commitment. But he's not planning to end this tradition anytime soon.

"I enjoy it," he says. "I enjoy bringing people together. There's something social and religious about it."

For more information

• Northern Kentucky University: (859) 572-6036; Web site.

• Miami University: 529-3721; Web site.

• University of Cincinnati: 556-4108; Web site.

• Xavier University: 745-4874; Web site.

Learn to cook

Students can learn to cook at school with the Cookbook for College Kids (Centax; $12.95).