L.A. Unified's new top chef trying to put the 'wow' in school lunches

Mark Baida was pleased with his latest taste test: lots of empty little black trays, sometimes stacked three deep in front of his guinea pigs, a group of Garfield High School students.

But the pressure is on the new executive chef of the Los Angeles Unified School District: Demands are growing from parent groups, the school board and students for food that is delicious, healthful, served quickly -- and really, really inexpensive. In the last few years, the school board has banned soda and set standards for salt and fat, among other things.

Now the aim is to make it more appealing too.

Garfield, where about 3,000 students eat cafeteria food each day, is one of several places Baida has gone to see how students will react to his new menu.

"We're changing menus. A Chef's Signature Series . . . very different packaging, look, taste, smell," limited-time offerings, said Baida, who wore a white L.A. Unified chef's jacket with pens and an instant-read thermometer in the pocket on his left sleeve.

He oversees 500,000 meals a day (about 76% of them provided free or at reduced prices) at more than 700 locations. In some schools, more than 3,000 students have to eat in 30 minutes -- something no restaurant does, Baida noted.

"I'm here to move a mountain and I need a lot of shovels," he said.

Elementary school students pay $1 for lunch; secondary students pay $1.50. A lunch, including labor and overhead, costs about $2.66, with much of that coming back to the district in federal reimbursements; L.A. Unified spends about 75 cents on food per meal, some of that for such federal surplus commodities as cheese and beef, said David Binkle, the district's deputy director of food services. (Food services is required to be self-supporting.)

On a recent Wednesday afternoon the Garfield student volunteers tasted entrees the district expects to start serving this fall: enchiladas and lasagna, as well as bags of chips -- popped, not fried. For each item, the students were asked to circle icons for thumbs up or thumbs down.

There were very few of the latter.

"It's delicious. Real lasagna," said Daniel Delarosa, an 18-year-old senior at Garfield.

"It's better than what we have now," said Daniel Bolanos, 17. His chief complaints? The pizza is too greasy. The burritos "don't have enough taste."

Several officials and activists were also at Garfield, showing off marketing material and nutritional charts and trying to assess perception as much as reality.