#4 UCLA (Los Angeles)

The dining services team at UCLA — which is made up of close to 700 people — is nothing if not committed to both the students and their products. Proof: Dining services managers here teamed up with "Bruins for Animals" and went vegan for a week to really understand the reality, and help them improve dining options.

Roger Pigozzi, UCLA’s assistant director of dining and a corporate chef, did it for 90 days a couple of years ago and says it made him re-evaluate every recipe, and think about ingredients differently. It paid off — in 2012 UCLA won the PETA Award for most vegan-friendly university.

If you are still not sold, Pigozzi once gave his card to a student with instructions to call his cell directly, if there were any issues with food service. True story.

Pigozzi, who has been with the university for 10 years, is passionate about culinary training and recipe development. Practicing "just in time cooking," dining staff are sautéing, slicing, and grilling "as the customers come in," shares Pigozzi. "Our timeline is that nothing can sit there for more than five minutes," he adds. How is this possible? Attention to detail — and people with headsets.

The school aims to use the best quality ingredients at every turn, and make ethnic food as authentic as possible via student panels and field research.

Not to be missed: FEAST in Rieber Hall features a rotating pan-Asian menu that offers Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, and Hawaiian fare. Two cuisines are highlighted every night, and the facility has created more than 1,500 new recipes in only two years.