The clang of sharp knives, the aroma of freshly baked dough and the sensation of an eager tongue engulfed all who ventured to the basement of MacKay Hall on Wednesday night. Iowa State’s very own “culinary learning laboratory,” the Joan Bice Underwood Tearoom, is to blame for the colossal cravings.

A New England street-food-inspired menu was created for the second in a four-part dinner series. The Fine Dining Management class prepared a five-course dinner for 60 customers who reserved their spots in advance.

“The goal is to give them management experience and [how to] put together a major event and a fine dining experience,” said Nathan Stokes, instructor of the class and graduate student in apparel, events and hospitality management. “They had to think about all the aspects of running a fine dining event.”

Students ran the entire show with Stokes overseeing the operation. The students had to plan the seating environment and serving styles and prepare a five-course meal. Students even went as far as to complement the dining components with selected wines.

“They also had to look at cost: how much people are willing to pay and if we’ll actually make money. It’s supposed to be a real-life experience. It’s a fun class,” Stokes said.

“It’s super fast-paced. You have to be prepared and be able to delegate and make sure everything gets done according to time,” said chef Ashley Swanson, senior in culinary science. “You get to learn a lot more about the managing side of things with this class verses only the culinary.”

In a class mainly composed of culinary science or hospitality management majors, kitchen manager Hailey Boudreau is the only dietetics major in the bunch.

“This experience is great. Within my major, I don’t get a lot of experience managing. It’s really nice to be able to plan my own menu and run my own restaurant with some of my classmates,” Boudreau said.

The dinner began at 6:30 p.m. with poutine (fried potato coins covered in cheese curds with a red wine mushroom sauce) and 2010 Chateau St. Jean Fume Blanc wine. The diners next took on a lettuce-wrapped lobster roll followed by Manhattan clam chowder paired with another wine.

The chefs placed a sausage, Brussels sprouts, and macaroni and cheese course in front of the diners for the main course. The meal was capped with three varieties of New York cheesecake pops: blueberry, cranberry or caramel.