Students at Highland Park High School don’t need a reservation to dine on Korean beef bulgogi bowls, Cajun red beans and rice, or grilled salmon with tomato capellini pasta.
Those recipes and more freshly made favorites are on this year’s cafeteria menu thanks to new food service manager Brenda Vardell.
Vardell came to the high school this fall after more than two decades of service at McCulloch Intermediate School/Highland Park Middle School, where she was known for crafting original dishes and adapting family recipes for students and staff.
Vardell’s entrees are still on the menu at the middle school. But now high schoolers can enjoy her home cooking as well.
Among Vardell’s favorite dishes are her tropical shrimp bowl and the chicken tortilla soup she adapted from a recipe shared by her sister. Vardell said the soup she serves at the high school isn’t as good as the version she fed her neighbors every Halloween before her children went trick-or-treating. It’s better.
Another homemade soup, authentic pork pozole made with guajillo and arbol chilis, was on the menu one Thursday in October. Vardell was taught to cook that recipe by an employee at the middle school.
“It’s garnished with lime. There’s some radish. There’s some cabbage,” volunteer day captain Lisa Bedford told a visitor. “You ought to go down and get yourself some.”
“I come in here, and I’m not hungry at all. And then I’m starving,” fellow volunteer Gretchen McMullin said with a laugh as she served a long line of hungry students.
The new menu options aren’t the only changes Vardell has made with input from the high schoolers she serves. She has limited French fries to Fridays, and pizza is no longer available every day. Vardell has added a self-serve baked potato bar and separated the salad bar from the deli, which can have a very long line.
In addition to recipes, Vardell relies on carefully selected products that could be mistaken for homemade. Her chicken tenders aren’t hand-breaded, but they taste like they are. And students love the barbecue brisket that the cafeteria cooks overnight and serves with mac and cheese.
Vardell said she hopes her filling, nutritious meals give students a happy heart.
“Food is such a big part of everyone’s day-to-day,” she explained. “If they’re feeling good, they’re going to do well in school.”
Senior Jesse Luna said he especially enjoys the cafeteria’s chicken-fried chicken and chicken tenders. He misses the pizza, but its absence isn’t affecting him too much.
“I like that they’re adding in new things and rotating them,” he said. “They’re very good this year.”
Volunteers said the cafeteria is lucky to have Vardell at its helm. It almost didn’t turn out that way. Vardell had initially planned to retire after her husband passed away in June 2024, but decided she should stay after returning to work at the middle school in January.
Now, she loves seeing more grown-up versions of the students she once knew as middle schoolers.
“It’s really fun when they say, ‘Hi Ms. Vardell’ when they’re walking through the halls, and tell me thank you for making changes,” she said. “It’s been great.”
