For a total of 18 days this fall, students of The Culinary Institute of Montana will offer two new lunchtime dining options for the public at Flathead Valley Community College.

It began Tuesday with the opening of the first restaurant, “The Experience,” which will feature classic lunch options with an upscale flair, including a chicken pesto panini, fish tacos, grilled cheese shooters and chicken scaloppini.

The Experience will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays through Oct. 23.

There will be a one-week hiatus as the students from the second group prepare to open “Ambrosia — Mediterranean Cuisine” for the same days and times Nov. 4 through Nov. 20.

“The students have gone through a complete business plan with three community mentors who have helped guide them,” FVCC Executive Chef Howard Karp said.

This final course in the Professional Culinary Arts Series was designed to provide a practical approach to planning, organizing and managing a restaurant.

Taylor Baer, a 22-year-old FVCC student, is the lead on The Experience.

“It’s elevated comfort food,” she said. “We took some simple recipes and have tried to elevate them, to add a new spin to the food.”

Entrees in both restaurants will run between $7 and $12.

“We are keeping the food moderately priced to be mindful of our students,” Baer said. “But we are also aware of faculty members who might be willing to spend more money and get a better quality of meal.”

She said the food will be high quality and prepared and served by FVCC students eager to get real restaurant experience.

Jonathon Hartig, the executive sous chef of the Culinary Institute of Montana, is leading the second restaurant, Ambrosia.

“We will be serving primarily Greek food and have typical Greek fare,” he said. “That means gyros, pitas; we’ll have nice lamb, fresh veggies and greens. We want to increase the nutritional value of lunch.”

Despite wanting to provide healthy options, Hartig admits Ambrosia will serve Greek favorites baklava, the honeyed filo pastry dessert, and spanakopita, a spinach pie made with eggs and cheese.

The prices for the second restaurant will run in line with other sit-down eateries in the valley. What sets The Experience and Ambrosia apart is the venue.

“The restaurants will be in the Arts and Technology Building on campus,” Hartig said. “Customers will dine in our kitchen, just feet from where we will be preparing food.”

This, Hartig said, should give customers a good idea of what the culinary students are able to do in their program on a daily basis.

The 10 students partaking in the restaurant project are using it as a capstone for their studies at Flathead Valley Community College.

The two teams of five (one team cooks while the other serves and then the two switch between restaurants) were required to build a detailed business plan for the restaurants. This went far beyond just coming up with a menu.

“By the time our plans were done, we could have taken them to a banker to get funding,” Baer said. “We are the first class to do this kind of capstone, so we are excited to get our friends and family in there.”

A trial run of the restaurant went smoothly last week, Baer said. Now all the students need are hungry customers.

“It should be a really cool experiment for people of the valley to see what we do here,” she said.

Inter Lake photographer Brenda Ahearn contributed to this story.