Five-minute breaks in ivy-covered courtyards can't make the problems go away for the staff at the Eliot and Kirkland House dining halls.

But that's all the time that harried cooks say they dare spare away from their ovens and woks this fall.

The halls, renovated for $3 million last summer, have indeed improved food quality for students, efficiency for the University and aesthetics for tour groups.

"We've got the Taj Mahal here," says Ted A. Mayer, director of Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS), who is planning similar changes throughout the House system within the next seven years.

But staff members say they were forgotten in the excitement over the latest in culinary technology.

"We've had a couple cooks just explode," says one Eliot chef.

The changes have cooking and serving staff straining to deal with less workspace, new equipment, more physical labor and as many as 350 grill orders per night.

"A few minutes away helps you calm down a lot," adds a Kirkland cook. "Now you've come back and it's gone even further into destruction."