{"id":33814,"date":"2023-11-02T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=33814"},"modified":"2023-11-04T06:42:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T06:42:52","slug":"team-facility-program-3-reasons-why-knights-lair-is-one-of-the-armys-best-warrior-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=33814","title":{"rendered":"Team, facility, program: 3 reasons why Knight\u2019s Lair is one of the Army\u2019s best warrior restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n A contractor at the Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant on Smith Barracks in Baumholder serves Soldiers at the salad bar, Nov. 3, while dining facility attendants from Logistics Readiness Center Rheinland-Pfalz stand by to assist and to help ensure the restaurant remains sanitary and clean.
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BAUMHOLDER, Germany \u2013 Representing U.S. Army Europe and Africa, the Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant in Baumholder is preparing to compete in the upcoming Department of the Army 56th Annual Philip A. Connelly Award for Excellence in Food Service Competition scheduled for early next year. And it all starts with their Thanksgiving meal celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Thanksgiving meal is different than all our other meals,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Jinhui Zhu, the Knight\u2019s Lair manager. \u201cThanksgiving is an Army culinary specialist\u2019s Super Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re OCONUS [outside continental U.S.], and a lot of our Soldiers here in Baumholder are new to the Army. For many of them, this will be their first Thanksgiving away from home,\u201d said Zhu, who is assigned to the 55th Quartermaster Company, Europe\u2019s first field feeding company.<\/p>\n

No stranger to being one the best, a 55th QM Company warrior restaurant placed second in the Army-level Connelly competition in 2022 in the garrison category. And in 2021, another one of the 55th QM Company\u2019s warrior restaurants was selected as the best in Europe. Zhu said he and his team at Knight\u2019s Lair plan on taking home the first-place, Army-level Connelly award in the garrison category this year.<\/p>\n

Terry Allen is the installation food advisor for U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz. He said he believes the 55th QM Company can win it all this year for three reasons \u2013 the team, the facility and the program.<\/p>\n

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\n Knight\u2019s Lair team members serve up a lunch meal, Nov. 3. The team is unique in the fact that it is made up of local national employees and Army civilians from Logistics Readiness Center Rheinland-Pfalz, contractors, and Soldiers from the 55th Quartermaster Company, 95th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade.
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\n Soldiers from the 55th Quartermaster Company serve up lunch at the Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant, Nov. 3. The Knight\u2019s Lair staff is made up of local national employees and Army civilians from Logistics Readiness Center Rheinland-Pfalz, contractors, and culinary specialists from the 55th QM Company.
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The Team<\/h5>\n

The warrior restaurant team at the Knight\u2019s Lair is unique in the fact that it is made up of local national employees and Army civilians from Logistics Readiness Center Rheinland-Pfalz, contractors, and Soldiers from the 55th QM Company, 95th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great combination that\u2019s proven itself successful. Between the Army culinary specialists, the LRC Rheinland-Pfalz dining facility attendants and the contractors \u2013 there\u2019s a ton of experience and expertise in that facility. Everyone works very well together, and food service operations there run extremely smooth. And most importantly to the Soldiers and the community members they serve \u2013 the food is extremely nutritious and delicious,\u201d said Allen, who is assigned to LRC Rheinland-Pfalz, 405th Army Field Support Brigade.<\/p>\n

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\n Soldiers enjoy their lunch meal at the Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant on Smith Barracks in Baumholder, Nov. 3. Less than six months ago the Knight\u2019s Lair celebrated its grand reopening and is now touted as one of the most modern warrior restaurants in the Army.
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\n The Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant in Baumholder, which reopened less than six months ago, is much different than Army dining facilities of old. The team who operates the restaurant is made up of local national employees and Army civilians from Logistics Readiness Center Rheinland-Pfalz, contractors, and Soldiers from the 55th Quartermaster Company.
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The Facility<\/h5>\n

Less than six months ago the Knight\u2019s Lair celebrated its grand reopening. Touted as one of the most modern warrior restaurants in the Army, even U.S. Army Materiel Command\u2019s deputy commanding general, Lt. Gen. Christopher Mohan, was noted as saying it\u2019s one of the best in the Army and a great example of doing it right.<\/p>\n

The first of its kind, the warrior restaurant represents a significant milestone in the Army Food Service Modernization Plan. The Army Food Service Modernization Plan is a comprehensive initiative that seeks to improve the quality, variety and availability of food at Army warrior restaurants across the globe.<\/p>\n

The Knight\u2019s Lair offers a specialized menu that provides Baumholder Soldiers and community members with high-quality, nutritious meals while meeting their dietary needs and preferences. In addition \u2013 and maybe equally important \u2013 the Knight\u2019s Lair doesn\u2019t look like the dining facilities of old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s completely renovated, top to bottom. It\u2019s like a sports bar type of environment and atmosphere, and it\u2019s really nice,\u201d said Allen, who worked in several dining facilities during his 21 years as an active-duty Army cook and visits many more in his current role as an Army civilian installation food advisor.<\/p>\n

It has a modern feel to it, Zhu added. The old dining facilities were always beige in color with military photos and recruiting posters hanging from the walls. The Knight\u2019s Lair has modern LED mood lighting, it has all new furniture and a contemporary dining area design, and it\u2019s much different than all the other warrior restaurants in the Army. It\u2019s more in line with what someone would expect from a high-quality hometown restaurant in a nice neighborhood, he said.<\/p>\n

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\n The Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant on Smith Barracks serves up crab legs Nov. 3 for Soldiers and community members from Baumholder. Pictured here, a Soldier\u2019s black beret sits beside to his lunch at the warrior restaurant.
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\n A Soldier treats herself to a glass of cucumber-flavored water at the Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant on Smith Barracks in Baumholder, Nov. 3. The Knight\u2019s Lair, which reopened less than six months ago, is much different than Army dining facilities of old. It\u2019s more in line with what someone would expect from a high-quality hometown restaurant in a nice neighborhood.
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The Program<\/h5>\n

Zhu manages the Knight\u2019s Lair warrior restaurant, and Allen manages the program. The 55th QM Company is responsible for five warrior restaurants in four Army communities. There are two restaurants in Baumholder, two restaurants in the Kaiserslautern Military Community and one in Wiesbaden. The Knight\u2019s Lair is their showcase warrior restaurant and the one many Soldiers say is the best.<\/p>\n

The food tastes really good, but it also helps that the Knight\u2019s Lair is so much nicer than the other dining facilities, said Sgt. Charles Morrison from the 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion in Baumholder. The Knight\u2019s Lair has so many more options.<\/p>\n

The LRC Rheinland-Pfalz installation food program Allen manages includes the Knight\u2019s Lair and a second warrior restaurant in Baumholder, two warrior restaurants in the Kaiserslautern Military Community, and the dining facility at the U.S. Army Regional Correctional Facility-Europe in Sembach.<\/p>\n

Allen and his team at the LRC Rheinland-Pfalz food program management office visit each of the restaurants at least once or twice a week. They also conduct facility inspections and food inspections, keep track of all the accounts and budgetary requirements, and order new kitchen equipment and dining room furniture as needed. Allen is also involved in organizing all the special meals like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and he assists the warrior restaurant managers in the USAG Rheinland-Pfalz area with preparing for the Connelly competition.<\/p>\n

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\n Soldiers enjoy their lunch meal at the Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant on Smith Barracks in Baumholder, Nov. 3. The Knight\u2019s Lair has a modern feel to it, said Staff Sgt. Jinhui Zhu, the restaurant manager. It has modern LED mood lighting, all new furniture and a contemporary dining area design.
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\n The Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant on Smith Barracks serves up crab legs Nov. 3 for Soldiers and community members from Baumholder. Terry Allen, the Logistics Readiness Center Rheinland-Pfalz installation food advisor, said the food at the Knight\u2019s Lair is always delicious and nutritious.
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Zhu said he and his team at the Knight\u2019s Lair are looking forward to presenting an amazing meal and atmosphere at the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration. The meal is scheduled for Nov. 22 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant on Smith Barracks in Baumholder. And Zhu and his team are equally excited about the upcoming Connelly competition. They have a lot on their shoulders \u2013 representing all of U.S. Army Europe and Africa \u2013 but they\u2019re confident they\u2019ll come out on top, and Allen agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we win, it\u2019ll be the third one that we\u2019ve won since I\u2019ve been doing this job,\u201d Allen said. \u201cWith this team and this facility and this program, I have no doubt that we will win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A contractor at the Knight\u2019s Lair Warrior Restaurant on Smith Barracks in Baumholder serves Soldiers at the salad bar, Nov. 3, while dining facility attendants from Logistics Readiness Center Rheinland-Pfalz stand by to assist and to help ensure the restaurant remains sanitary and clean. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL BAUMHOLDER, Germany \u2013 Representing U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33816,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33814"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33826,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33814\/revisions\/33826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}