Chef Paul hams it up with Chris Basile, who prepared pad thai for the Bromfield School Tuesday. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Bromfield chef Paul Correnty has expanded his widely acclaimed lunch menu to include something new and different: guest cooking. In the past two months, Correnty has showcased curry chicken from the Monsoon restaurant in Maynard and pad thai from the Quarterdeck, a restaurant owned by Harvard resident Chris Basile. Correnty got the idea two months ago, he said. “I was at Quarterdeck in the back picking up fish when Jaswan, the owner of Monsoon restaurant, came in to pick up some fish. We just got to chatting and he said he could come in and do some Indian food for us. I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if maybe once a month a different restaurant could come in and showcase their cuisine,’ and it started from there.”

The idea fits nicely for the restaurants as well, Correnty said, because they can serve lunch Monday or Tuesday when they might otherwise be closed, and they introduce their menu to Harvard residents.

According to Correnty, the feedback from the school community has been positive. “They’re thrilled, absolutely thrilled.” He added that students and staff appreciate the quality of the food and that Correnty and his staff went out of their way. Dozens of students commented on how unique it was to have excellent restaurant food in a school cafeteria setting. Sophomore Sam Dorward said, “We are so lucky to have Chef Paul, and this just another example of his remarkable dedication to the students.” Bromfield faculty member Chris Jones added, “It’s my guess [Chef Paul] prepares the best school lunch in the state.”

The process they use depends on whether the guest chef wants to cook on-site or off-site, Correnty said. “With the Indian food, they have a special oven that sears the meat to give it that special taste, so they had to cook that off-site in their own place. They brought it in hot and we kept it warm. In the case of the pad thai, we brought in all of the vegetables and cooked all the vegetables here and soaked the rice noodles overnight,” he said. Correnty added that meals for 300 people need to be served in an hour-and-a-half period, but with the restaurant’s help, “It is easier because we only have to provide the side dishes.”

One of the key elements to running successful meal service is what Correnty calls his flexible kitchen. “In the case of the curry chicken, I tried to get Jaswan, the head chef of Monsoon here, but he had two guys out so he had two guys bring everything in,” he said, “and in the case of the pad thai, I wanted Narang, one of the chefs at the Quarterdeck, to be here, but he had a wrist operation done.” Correnty summed up the challenge: “So is it somewhat of a crapshoot? Yeah, that’s the food business, and you have to be flexible because things can happen.”

Correnty is looking to continue the restaurant and guest chef idea for the rest of the year and is open to suggestions. “I would like to go a little outside of the norm. I do have to look at food costs, so I will probably gear more toward ethnic foods; they use a lot of rice and noodle dishes that are very economical,” he said. Correnty said that he’s looking at a Vietnamese restaurant he knows in North Chelmsford and also the Mango Grill in Ayer as possibilities. He added, “Any suggestions are welcome.”