Fine Dining In Camden (Okay, Sicklerville) For $25 At The Back Door Cafe


What to do when you’re craving an inexpensive fine-dining experience and it’s that rare night when no one’s hosting a restaurant week? Hit up a culinary school and try your luck with the students. At this point, you’re probably familiar enough with the program at the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College. Now, though, there’s a new kid at the stoves. Every Thursday night from now until May 30, Camden County College students operate the Back Door Café where, under low chandelier lighting, you can have a white-linen meal for $25.

Adult culinary students who take evening courses in food prep, line cooking, kitchen operations, food-service technology, customer service and sanitation prepare gourmet meals under the supervision of professional chefs. Rest assured, classes also include lessons in table setting, so if your dessert fork isn’t the proscribed distance from the top of the plate, you can bet your student-server will hear about it.

In the transformed faculty dining room, students prepare and serve traditional fine-dining fare like shrimp cocktail, veal cordon bleu and chicken, broiled salmon in a lemon dill sauce, and drinks and desserts. The café is on the college’s Sicklerville campus and accepts only cash or check. Reservations required. (856) 767-7000, ext. 5415.