TSTC student-operated restaurant to reopen at East Williamson County campus

(HUTTO, Texas) – Texas State Technical College’s student-operated restaurant at the East Williamson County campus reopens on Thursday, Feb. 16, after a three-year hiatus.

Level 3, which is the name of the restaurant, is located on the third floor of the East Williamson County Higher Education Center and is open to the public by reservation. Culinary Arts students will seat and serve visitors and prepare food.

“This is what they (students) will see in the industry,” said Brian Bohannon, lead instructor in TSTC’s Culinary Arts program.

The menu will be the same each week and include garden and fruit salads, sauteed frenched chicken, fajitas, hamburgers, street tacos, and homemade peach cobbler with ice cream. Patrons may choose one salad, one main entree or light entree, and dessert. Tea and water will be available.

Jazmyne Johnson, a fifth-semester Culinary Arts student from Round Rock, said the restaurant work will give her the experience of taking charge in the kitchen. She said time management and food quality are the biggest things on her mind.

“For me, it is sinking in now,” Johnson said. “We have built up to this level.”

Luis Malagon, a second-semester Culinary Arts student from Bastrop, polished silverware, glasses and plates with his classmates on a recent morning.

Malagon said he has some nerves ahead of the restaurant opening. But he said he is eager to learn more about how a restaurant operates before he goes to work after graduation.

The average price for lunch will be under $15, Bohannon said. All money from the restaurant will go to the Culinary Arts program to support students’ educational needs.

The restaurant will be open from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursdays until April 13, but will not operate the week of March 13 due to spring break. The restaurant will only be open during the spring semester this year due to student scheduling and is expected to reopen in 2024, Bohannon said.

The restaurant opened briefly in spring 2020 but closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To get a registration link to sign up to dine at the restaurant, email brian.bohannon@tstc.edu or level3restaurant@tstc.edu.

For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.