By: Myles Robinson I Published: March 4, 2025
“It’s a job. It’s a job that I enjoy… So, I gets up and begin my day with the first part of it being praying, I pray to the Lord up above, and then I continue my day.”
Lenore Evans starts her mornings praying to her savior and asking for strength, wisdom and perseverance, traits that she fully embodies and carries with her throughout her day and on her 10 minute commute towards Kean University. She works as a “face behind the line,” a line server for Gourmet Dining staff in the university dining hall.
Fifty-seven year old Evans, native of Irvington, currently residing in Newark, has been working with Gourmet Dining, run by head cook Damian Daleo, staff for almost 10 years now. She has seen at least two generations of Kean students pass through the cafeteria doors. She started out as a cashier and then moved her way to becoming the face behind the line, where she happily serves Kean University’s housed and off-campus students.Evans, who is a mother to a college student of her own, comes to work and does more than just change out food bins when they start to slim.
“I have a daughter who’s away at college, so when I come here I understand how it feels for the students to be away from home,” said Evans. “Sometimes a student may come in here from having a bad day, or they might ask me for some advice and I talk to them… I hope and pray that if anyone else was in my shoes that they would do the same thing for my kid or any other student.”
Evans, who is no stranger to being a part of the academic kitchen community, previously worked at Seton Hall University in the ‘90s. It’s only with this magnificent amount of experience that Lenore brings to the table that she able to handle the breakfast, lunch and dinner rushes that the dining hall sees on a daily basis.
“The chefs do a very good job. You warm up and get very used to them quickly. They’re always here and they’re always very nice people. We usually come right here after practice. Seeing their faces, they are always in a good mood no matter how early it is, so it just keeps you up and in a good mood to continue your day,” said Adrianna Duda, who often spends time in the dining hall with her teammates comments about the Kean Gourmet Dining staff.
Duda, who is a freshman physical education and health major and a field hockey student athlete, gets up at around 5 a.m. for team practice. She usually finds herself and her teammates in the cafe right around the time it opens at 7 a.m. Adrianna, who usually prefers the eggs and sausages in the mornings, is a big fan of the fresh grill because she opts for the burgers and cheesesteaks during the dinner afternoon times.
Duda is one of many Kean students who prefer freshly made grilled food, with a particular favorite being the shaved beef or chicken with onions, peppers, and melted cheese on a toasted butter roll—always made fresh to order.
It’s none other than Tyrone Smith who has been working with Kean Gourmet Dining for about 15 years, who carefully slices open the rolls and chops up the grilled seasoned beef and chicken that graces the grill before it’s served up with smile, and maybe even a side of chicken tenders and french fries.
“Everything, I love everything [about cooking], I love how it looks, how it tastes, everything,” said Smith. “It’s wonderful to see the smile on their face after they eat my food. It makes me feel good and you know you’re doing something right when they keep on coming back and back and back. The food is good, they love it here, because if they didn’t they wouldn’t come back. They would go get something else.”
Smith, who sometimes would end up making almost a thousand cheesesteaks in one day usually is part of the morning shift crew. No matter how early it is, he along with Evans and many other crew members, comes to work with a smile and a duty to motivate and elevate the Cougars of tomorrow.
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