With Black Jack chicken and potatoes shaped like dice, McElwain cook Sue Merritts will compete, Iron Chef style, against other dining hall cooks at a regional Culinary Challenge at Virginia Tech in March.

Similar to the Food Network's show, competition judges will circulate the room, observing the cooks' sanitation and kitchen organization, while the dining hall chefs prepare meals showcasing chicken. "You can't lick your fingers in this competition," Merritts said.

Sponsored by the National Association of College and University Food Services, this year is Penn State's first time participating in the mid-Atlantic regional competition, Penn State's Executive Chef Bill Laychur said.

Merritts received the honor after she won a cook-off against three other Penn State chefs.

"She's very organized and sanitation-conscious, which I think gave her an edge," said Jo Ann Marker, McElwain dining halls operations manager. "She took a lot of time in testing her dish."

As the lead cook of the McElwain dining halls, Merritts plans meals and runs the kitchen. She said she prefers the dining commons to working in a restaurant. "In a restaurant, the menu is standardized, and there's no room for creativity," Merritts said. "The pace of a restaurant is much faster. Here, I get a break between meals."

Because many student athletes live in McElwain, healthier foods are most popular in the dining area, Merritts said. "Here, we serve about 400 people every day and use more vegetables than when I worked in the Redifer Commons, which fed 5,000 students," she said.

While cooks must stick to an assigned menu, Merritts said she sometimes gets to try new dishes and is surprised that students will taste different recipes.

"I love to try new combinations," she said. "My favorite dishes are cream-based, like soups and sauces. I made a cheese-spinach pasta sauce last night, and many people tried it."

While some items such as spaghetti sauce and pasta are store bought, dining halls cooks make most of the food, Merritts said.

Some students at the McElwain dining halls said they enjoyed the cooks' healthy food and creativity.

"This dining commons is convenient for me because I live in McElwain," Katy Whalen (freshman-public relations) said. "I love the soups. I get them all the time."

Jeff Markowitz (senior-biobehavioral health) said he liked McElwain's friendly staff and food. "They have a lot of different types of healthy food, and they're always taking risks with different dishes," he said. "The staff is really nice."

During the competition, Merritts will present her casino-themed platter, which consists of blackened chicken covered with Jack Daniel's sauce, cubed potatoes decorated with mustard seeds to look like dice inside a carved potato cup, and Texas Hold 'Em zucchini ribbons. For dessert, Merritts will serve a tropical fruit compote with candy-capped mushrooms, a special, butterscotch-flavored vegetable from San Francisco. "It's all original recipes," Merritts said. "Nothing is duplicated from a book."

The meal would be hard to mass reproduce in the dining halls, Marker said. But Merritts said she would be up for the challenge.

"I'd like to give it a go," she said.