Not your Father's cafeteria!

Lompoc High School has a Food Court. What is the world coming to?:

Nor is there debate about the cavernous room once known as the cafeteria. That old-school label still appears in raised block letters outside the building, but inside it has been transformed. It is now "Braves Bistro Food Court," a hip cafe.

The long green institutional tables with attached benches are gone. So are the frozen burritos packaged during the Reagan administration and the depressing atmosphere of chow hall at the prison. Nobody used to come here.

"I never set foot in this room as a student nor as a teacher," said a smiling Bree Jansen, the sunny and locally reared LHS activities director. "Until this year."

At 11:30 a.m. on a recent Friday a bell sounds. Milliseconds later the first Brave flashes through the Bistro door and vaults a cord demarking The Main Event serving line from four others. The second arrival slides under the rope (Where were these guys during football season?). An eyeblink later a double column extends 25 feet before disappearing out the door.

Today's marquee attraction? Teriyaki chicken rice bowl.

"You used to see 100 students here, max," teacher Jim Steffey said as he gathered up lunch to take back to his room. "Now you can't get in without bumping into people. I'm seeing kids eating lunch who didn't eat before."

When I was in HS I don't think I ate a single mcafeteriae cafateria. Not one.

Of course back then "thinking outside the box" meant finding something else to throw in with the mystery meat in order to come up with some new amazing meal. It didn't mean re-thinking the way you feed your students.