ESU losing chef who made a difference

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By Chris Walker (Contact)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Harold Jensen, Emporia State University’s executive chef, will leave Friday for his new job as a district executive chef at California State University in Monterey Bay, Calif.

Jensen will leave behind a legacy of creating exciting meals on ESU’s campus.

Before moving to Emporia in 2002 Jensen was chef de cuisine at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, as well as a personal chef to celebrities including Celine Dion, Wayne Newton and Lee Greenwood.

Jensen used his culinary experience to bring gourmet food to the university. It was not uncommon to find prime rib, seafood and gourmet dishes being served for lunch in the Skyline Dining Room.

Jensen introduced fusion cuisine to the university.

“Fusion food is where I would blend different cultures into one cuisine.” Jensen said “It can be anything from a nut-crusted fish to a cognac-glazed salmon.”

The high quality of the food has dramatically increased the number of people dining on campus every day.

During the past year, Jensen had been spending less time on the ESU campus as his employer, Sodexho, was sending him as a guest chef to other campuses around the country. He also spent time cooking for high-end events.

In his new job at California State, Jensen will be responsible for managing the food operations for 1,400 students who are on meal plans. He also will run a large retail operation and a full-scale restaurant service.

The search will begin for a new chef for ESU. Sodexho will post the job nationally and people will fly in to go through the interview process.

The question now is what will happen to the quality of food on ESU’s campus now that Jensen is leaving?

“I hope what I have done with the culinary team by training them is to bring them up to a level which they are comfortable of serving.” Jensen said. “Hopefully they won’t go back 10 steps, but will continue to stay competitive and be on the cutting edge of cuisine for this area.”