Shouts of "No nuts on the chicken!" and questions like, "Do the crab cakes get any sauce?" bounced around the busy kitchen at Café Laura. A line cook glazed a steak with a three-mushroom sherry sauce and carefully arranged fried onion straws on top while a few servers waited, hands on their hips, to deliver the food to their guests in the dining room.

For the purpose of Tuesday night's theme dinner, Café Laura became The 4-Star Diner, a restaurant project that was conceptualized and executed by one of four student-management teams. The teams make up the class Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management 430 (Advanced Food Production and Service Management).

"I think I'm going to order the meatloaf tonight," Brian Skena (senior-pro golf management) said after pondering the menu of classic diner food with an upscale flare. This was Skena's second time dining at one of the theme dinners.

"It's a good place to save a little money, have a good meal and bring your own booze," he said, gesturing towards a bottle of wine he had brought.

Because Café Laura doesn't have a liquor license, the theme dinners have a bring-your-own-bottle policy with limits on the quantities of alcohol allowed.

As the first wave of guests sat down to a relaxing meal in the dining room, the kitchen was still bustling with activity.

The kitchen manager, Andrew Walk (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) could be seen examining each plate, ensuring that each item was perfectly prepared and presented.

"I'm the last person to see the food before it goes into the dining room," Walk said. His attention to detail was extensive, prompting him at one point to wipe away a small drop of sauce that looked out of place on a plate of filet mignon.

Meanwhile, dishes were being washed, the mashed potatoes were being refilled and Sarah Hantz (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) was telling the cooks to grill another steak, medium well.

Hantz was performing the duties of expediter, which entails relaying orders to the line cooks and ensuring the food gets to the dining room on time.

Hantz said she was leaning toward getting into the hotel business after graduation, but this class was making the decision more difficult.

"I love it," she said. "I love everything about it."

The general manager for the night, Brandon Stiver (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) could be seen making his way around the restaurant, trying to spot problems before they arose. He said the biggest issue is usually the food quantities.

"You're trying to forecast for people you know nothing about," he said. "You have to be prepared to deal with the shortages that occur."

A well-executed meal may mean more than a good grade for students in HRIM 430. In addition to Penn State students and faculty and members of the local community, restaurant recruiters also frequent the theme dinners, scouting for new culinary and managerial talent.

One member of the management team, Stephanie Lally (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management), had her family come all the way from Pittsburgh to enjoy the meal she helped make happen.

"My daughter has been working every day for hours and hours on this," her mom, Katherine Lally, said. "That's what we came to see, and to enjoy the meal."

After the last guest had left and everything was cleaned and put away, Stiver took a moment to reflect on how the dinner had gone.

"It went pretty well," he said. "We improved from our previous dinner, but we didn't meet our potential, and I think we let ourselves down, in a way."

Of course, Stiver said he realized that the dinner is part of the learning process.

"I want to use the experience and knowledge that I learned from my instructor and my peers," he said, adding that he will "apply it to the rest of my time in school and my future career."