If restaurant ambiance is important to you, don’t go to City College’s John Dunn Gourmet Dining Room.

Though the food holds more promise, the surroundings can be best described as disappointing.

Across from the Bookstore and adjacent to the casual JSB Café, the Dining Room has served local diners for more than 30 years. The lunch menu offers French Bistro style selections that range from flat iron steak to feta spinach omelets, all prepared by students masterfully guided by Culinary Arts Department Head Chef Randy Bublitz, who’s been with the program since 1993.

The space seats 34 and tries to be formal with white table cloths and etiquette-proper place settings, but it’s hard to ignore the stark white walls, faded photographs, and dated mint-green high back chairs. The fluorescent lights were turned off, adding to the dreary atmosphere.

From its large picture windows and outside patio, beyond portables and bobbing heads of students in transit, the view of the ocean and the Channel Islands pops at the horizon and offers relief from the mood of the dining room. Champagne glass vases with lavender and orange poppies, fresh from the Horticulture Department’s garden, offer relief to the dull ambiance, as do the tables of frequent senior diners, bubbling with gossip and cheer.

As much forgiveness as visitors can muster up to excuse the dining room for being part of a learning environment, the reality is the space is uninspired and a bore. But beyond the walls of this unimaginative room is the kitchen, where inspiration enjoys its symphony and the results are delivered to tables, courtesy of student servers.

No restaurant using “French” in its menu description would be complete without escargot. The sauté, paired with wild mushrooms in thick red wine sauce, is heaped over two crispy buttered rounds of bread and a sprinkle of fresh parsley. The escargot with a delicate tender bite offers contrast to the flavorful robust kick of the savory selection of wild mushrooms.

After I had to ask for a missing napkin and bread, a steamy cup of creamy mushroom soup arrived at the table, compliments of the chef. It had good consistency, and chopped mushrooms with a hint of scallion added depth to its flavor. The fresh baked bread had a firm, chewy crust and soft interior with savory pesto swirls, leaving no need for butter.

Oven seared duck was presented in loin slices with a delicate wine sauce that showed off the gamey flavor of the meat, tender and moist. Long grain white rice with carrots played as a backdrop for a splash of color from slender French green beans, steamed tender crisp.

Dessert is the Christmas morning of a meal, and the concept of the dessert tray conflicts with the delight of ordering – seeing the choices steals the intrigue. The tiramisu taken directly off the dessert tray that it shared with profiteroles drenched in chocolate ganache and a strawberry tart was unsettling, and all I could think about was how many tables it had been to before mine.

Skirting past that concern, the first bite into the layers of coffee soaked sponge cake and sweet whipped mascarpone wiped out the thought of travel germs. It was everything tiramisu should be: decadent, lightly sweetened, and hard to stop eating. A cup of Green Mountain coffee, strong and hearty, enhanced every bite.

Though John Dunn’s Gourmet Dining Room lacks ambience, it makes up for it with creative, bold exploration in food and a satisfying epicurean experience. As for the dining room itself, this might just be the place for City College Interior Design students to use their expertise and gain practical experience, just as the Culinary Arts students have been doing successfully for three decades with savory success.

-Kathy McColm is a Journalism 272 student.