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| More food selections offered at high school |
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| Written by Maddy Houk | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Friday, 23 May 2008 | |
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Clay King and friend Carl Payne III, both age 16, went through the Patterson High School lunch line quickly Monday and emerged with nachos topped with beans and cheese.  Choices, choices: PHS freshman Nichole Ramirez has the option to choose from a crunchy taco or a plate of chips at the cafeteria. Students can then add chicken, beans, lettuce, shredded cheese or nacho cheese to their concoction — all part of the school’s new approach to healthier lunch choices. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator “I love the food here — it’s really good,” Clay said. “They also have a quick-grab breakfast — cinnamon rolls. You gotta love ’em.” Clay likes the options students have during the days when they can build their own tacos. Patrons take a taco shell and can add scoops of meat, cheeses and other ingredients to assemble each taco to their liking. There’s also a potato bar, where hungry students can garnish spuds with fixings such as sour cream. “The food is decent,” Carl agreed. “They changed it up from last year. We have choices, so we get to pick what we want.” But Carl’s brother, Javan Payne, 17, doesn’t approve of what’s served. “The meat is not all the way cooked, and sometimes it’s pink inside the hamburger,” he said. “The pickles taste fake — I like the crunch in my pickles.” Even his chips were stale, he complained.  chow time: Ninth-graders Jimmy Guerrero (left) and D.J. Washington eat their school lunches Monday enjoy their lunch. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator The high school’s menu regularly includes hamburgers, chicken burgers, chicken nuggets and baked fries. Inside the cafeteria Monday through Wednesday, teens can stop at the South of the Border taco bar or build their own chili-cheese fries. On Thursdays and Fridays, homemade pizza is on the menu, along with a salad bar. Students also can dig into home-cooked favorites, such as turkey and gravy, or choose from three types of sandwiches or chicken salad. School food service workers changed up the menu because the high school was affected most by state and federal school food guidelines. New guidelines included elimination of both soda machines and fatty snacks on school campuses. Similar changes at other schools in the district will follow. Yvette Meza, 14, said she would rather have the snacks and soda machines back. “It’s too healthy,” Yvette said. “They don’t put any salt on the fries. They need more snacks.” Renina Ellis, a transfer from Livermore High School, and her friend Mahogany Broughton, both 16, figure the food is just OK. “I think it’s all right,” Renina said. “It’s not that good. We only get one scoop of everything. At my old school, they sold Little Caesar’s Pizza and fries that were seasoned good.” Mahogany, who said she cooks at home, said she would rather see more variety in the type of food offered. “It’s the same thing every day — they need to mix it up,” she said. “They should serve some soul food, like chicken and rice.” Cesar Gaxoila said he misses having pizza sticks, one of the discontinued offerings, and added that the fries should be cooked more. His friend Jesus Gonzalez said that prices for some things — such as a bag of Cheetos — are too expensive. To reach Maddy Houk at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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