Everything’s new in Towers’ Market Central

It’s the question heard rumbling through college tour groups the world over: “How’s the… It’s the question heard rumbling through college tour groups the world over: “How’s the food?” At Pitt, the response a few months ago might have been an optimistic “Um, it’s OK,” or a more deflective “Well, you can see for yourself,” or a mollifying “You’ll get used to it.”

But now when Pitt’s blue-and-gold-clad Pathfinders find themselves staring down the barrel of the mother of all pre-college questions, they can reply proudly, “It’s new. Brand new.”

The $10-million, newly renovated dining hall in the Litchfield Towers will offer wireless service, eight flat-panel televisions, a take-out section and every type of food imaginable.

Market Central, which replaces Eddie’s and Marketplace dining halls, will serve 6,000 meals a day. It includes six individual restaurants, or platforms, as well as a Taco Bell, Market To-Go and Quick Zone, a mini-store.

“Everything’s new,” Sodexho Dining Services Director of Operations Tod Shoenberger said. “There’s no other way to put it. Everything’s new.”

That includes bathrooms, air conditioning units, lighting, seating areas, a study area, plates, cups and silverware, digital menus, nutritional kiosks and an impressive new staircase descending from Towers lobby.

The staircase leads diners down to two glass-walled areas. To the left is Taco Bell, Quick Zone and Market-To-Go, where students can purchase for take out any of the 25 to 30 featured items from all of the restaurants in the all-you-can-eat section on the other side. In the all-you-can-eat area, once students swipe their cards, they can choose any food and stay as long as they’d like.

“It’s exciting that it will be a lot more made-to-order with more healthy stuff,” senior Victoria Hicks said. “It might become more like the freshman 30.”

Senior Wesley Vaina is also looking forward to the new changes.

“I think it’s a nice idea,” he said. “I was never a big fan of Marketplace, but I liked Eddie’s, and I think putting them together is a good idea. It might be the best of both worlds.”

The kitchen area has been condensed and each restaurant will have a chef out in front, as well as a manager available to answer questions and make sure students are getting what they want.

“We hired with a restaurant mentality to get away from the cafeteria feel,” Shoenberger said. “You can’t have good quality prep if you’re cooking in the back.”

In addition to good quality, Market Central will have healthier options compared to its predecessors. There will be many vegetarian and vegan options as well as stations for gluten-free and kosher foods.

Market Central will be open from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., which is later than Eddie’s and Marketplace. However, each restaurant will have differing hours of operation and will be open only for certain meals each day. Taco Bell will be open from 11 a.m. to midnight during the week but not as much on the weekends, and Quick Zone will be open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

In addition to longer hours of operation, lower prices for convenience store items at the Quick Zone will be a welcome change for students and will apply all over campus.

“One of the biggest things that excites me about this is that if you went to Eddie’s and wanted to buy a 2-liter of pop, it was $1.99, and we had to do that because of the way the meal plan was built,” Shoenberger said.

“The difference now is we have street prices,” he said. “The two liters are now $1.40.”

“You’ll see a price on an item for this year, and you’ll see the price it was last year,” he said. “For the first couple of weeks we want everyone to see the change.”

“Taco Bell’s the same way; we have street prices. You can walk up to the Taco Bell on Baum Boulevard and that’s where we got our prices,” he said.

The new setup is based around several “platforms,” each with a different name and culinary theme.

Magellan’s will serve various ethnic foods in four-week cycles with everything from Thai to Southwestern to New England cuisine. Basic Kneads will serve pastries and coffee starting early each morning with doughnuts from Dunkin’ Donuts as well as sandwiches, fruit and cereals.

Bella Trattoria centers around a brand new pizza oven and will feature Mediterranean foods, hot sandwiches and pastas with different toppings and sauces. Tutto Fresco will offer the vegan and vegetarian options like salad, tofu, veggie burgers and soups.

360 Degrees is a circular platform with a large, round grill surface in the middle where diners can choose 18 to 20 toppings to add to a rice or noodle base. Diners choose the type of sauce and a protein – chicken, pork or seafood – and place a corresponding colored stone next to their bowl on a lazy Susan. The chef then takes the bowl and prepares the meal over noodles or rice from a massive 55-quart rice cooker.

Shoenberger anticipates that The Flying STAR Diner will be the most popular option with students. In true diner fashion, the STAR will provide breakfast options in the morning and possibly during late-night hours with typical diner food, such as coleslaw, hot turkey and meatloaf sandwiches and, of course, pie.

Market Central will also offer more drink stations in its all-you-can-eat area. There will be 90 drink fountains with 19 different flavors at various locations around the dining hall. Unlike the old system, students are permitted to select bottled water instead of a soft drink with their To-Go meal for the same price.

Shoenberger said that a lot of the upcoming semester and even part of the spring semester will be a big test run, finding out what students want to see in both food choices and operational details.

“We know the voices will be out there for the hours of operation, and we know we’re going to hear that,” he said. “We’re open 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. What [platforms are] open between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m. is really going to come from the students.”

Market Central was completed on schedule and opened to RAs and RDs for a test run on Aug. 13 and 14. It will open to all students during Arrival Survival on Aug. 22.