University of Lynchburg’s Burton Dining Hall
By Suzanne Ramsey | Photos Courtesy of John McCormick, University of Lynchburg Marketing and Communications
One Friday, my husband and I had a “date night.” It was dinner and a show—the “show” being the University of Lynchburg’s spring musical, Seussical. Since the play was at the university’s Dillard Fine Arts Center, it made perfect sense to have dinner beforehand a couple hundred yards away at Burton Dining Hall.
For full disclosure purposes, as a writer with the university’s marketing department, I’ve done this a lot over the years—having a meal at Burton before lectures, readings, concerts, and plays.
First of all, you can’t beat the convenience of a quick, scenic walk across the Dell between dinner and your event. Secondly, an all-you-can-eat meal for $11—$7.50 for kids—including beverages, desserts and tax, isn’t bad these days. And there’s no tipping, to boot.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the food is great—a far cry from my college days, where cheese melted between two tortillas was declared a quesadilla and was cause for celebration.
On the contrary, you’ll find restaurant-quality fare at Burton. In fact, it’s a Level 1 Certified Green Restaurant—the first private university in Virginia to achieve that designation.
According to Michial Neal, co-director of dining services, that means there are “certain qualifications you have to meet, like water conservation, LED lighting, Energy Star equipment, recycling, composting, and no Styrofoam.”
Burton uses locally sourced food whenever they can: milk from Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, honey from Hungry Hill Farm in Shipman, ground beef from Seven Hills Food in Lynchburg, etc.
Breakfast sausage comes from Baker’s Farm in Mt. Jackson.
“Our sausage is spec’d per our qualifications and tastes,” said Shaun Dearden, co-director of dining services. “Michial [Neal] helped come up with the flavor profile and that’s what we go with.”
Burton also uses ethically and sustainably sourced seafood, whenever possible, which means diners might encounter a fish they’ve never heard of: Peruvian trout, barramundi, pangasius, walleye, black drum, and more.
“When they try it, they’re like ‘Wow,’” Dearden said. “It’s opened up another market, so you can get some of the other species. You get to try something unique sometimes when you come here. You never know what you’re going to get.”
Dearden estimates that about 60 percent of the food served at Burton is scratch made.
“A lot of the pasta dishes are made in house,” he said. “Briskets are smoked in house. Rotisserie chickens are done in house. All of our sauces are made from scratch. There are a lot of recipe-driven items. We’re trying to be unique and create some of our own tastes and flavors.”
With a record number of international students on campus—210 students from 38 countries to be exact—they’ve also been working to globalize the menu.
Depending on the day, the “Global Destinations” bar might include food from the West African coast, Thai street food, Mongolian beef, Chinese bao buns, Hawaiian poke, “British Breakfast,” or “Wings of the World,” with Indian, Korean, and Filipino-style chicken wings.
Every day, dal bhat—lentils and rice, a South Asian staple popular with the university’s 114 Nepali students—is offered on the vegetarian bar.
“Our cooking staff has stepped up and are more than willing to learn these cuisines and are putting their spin on it,” Kitchen Manager Angelo Harris said.
To make sure they’re getting the flavors and spice-levels right, Burton staff lean heavily on international students. A good example of this is the Nepali-inspired chicken curry.
“We started with a base recipe and kept tweaking it,” Sous Chef John Barker said. “It took us quite a few tries, but we found what works best for us, production-wise, as well as making sure we got a consistent outcome for our students.”
Barker added that the recipe, which calls for habanero chiles, originally called for jalapeños but Nepali students “demanded it be spicier.” (Find the recipe on page 39.)
“The Nepali kids are very vocal,” he said. “We’re lucky to have them. They let us know when they don’t like it—too much turmeric, etc.”
Although hesitant to admit it, Dearden said the most popular menu item is “dino nuggets,” with more than 37,000 consumed in 2023.
“We cover everything from dino nuggets to salmon to flank steak,” he said. “We have surf-and-turf nights, Alaskan king crab legs, and occasionally we offer sushi from Choice Hibachi Buffet, which is extremely popular.”
Liam Young, a 7-year-old who comes to Burton with his family, is particularly fond of the ribs and chicken wings. The Italian dressing served on the salad bar, in particular, has set the bar for him.
“I don’t know why it’s so good, it just is,” he said, adding, “When I grow up, I want to go to the University of Lynchburg because the dining hall is so good.”
From a recruiting and retention standpoint, the kid could be on to something.
“We need to retain students here,” Neal said. “If they’re not satisfied with what they’re eating here, they’re going to go somewhere else. Students’ dining options are in the top-five of persuaders of where they go [to college]. It’s important to them.
“We try to serve the best products we can for the budget that we’re given. We’ve been very fortunate to do that. … If you’re going to do something, do it right.”
While Burton Dining Hall is located on University of Lynchburg’s campus, it is open to the public.
