Dining on campus: get the most from your plan

Book learnin’ and pounding the pavement build up an appetite. Fortunately, Pitt offers many… Book learnin’ and pounding the pavement build up an appetite. Fortunately, Pitt offers many dining possibilities beyond Easy Mac, Ramen and reheated Lo Mein.

Sodexho

Pitt’s food service provider, Sodexho, supplies the edibles and potables for the on-campus eateries. Sodexho also caters special events ? dances, receptions, etc. Its main office is located in the Litchfield Towers Lobby and can be reached at 648-1220.

Sodexho also provides part-time jobs for students interested in working at one of Pitt’s dining facilities. Information is available at their offices.

Weekly menus are posted online at www.panthereats.com. Not near a modem? Call 648-1978 to have them read to you.

Meal Plans

Blocks ? prepaid meal plan units worth $5.00 ? can buy food, drink and occasionally a USA Today at some of Pitt’s eating establishments. These are all-or-nothing deals ? though items may add up to $4.97, use a block to pay for it and you sacrifice the remaining three pennies.

Meal plans, required for virtually everyone living in the residence halls, provide anywhere from six to 19 blocks a week. The eating week stretches from Monday morning to Sunday night and, because blocks don’t roll over, unused blocks cannot be redeemed the following week.

That said, one block buys entrance to either Marketplace at C-Side or Sutherland cafeterias, both all-you-can-stomach buffets. For five Washingtons already on your Pitt ID, you can pile Fiestaware with mac and cheese; fresh veggies and salad; pizza of all flavors; French fries and hush puppies; spaghetti; and burgers, both meat and soy. C-Side also offers vegetarian food, ice cream and make-your-own waffles and omelets. Sutherland has a smaller buffet, with emphasis on pastas and protein. Both offer cakes, pastries and brownies for dessert.

Other facilities, particularly Eddie’s, Sub Connection and Schenley Cafe, offer block specials ? usually an entree, side dish and drink for $5.00. For example, one block at Schenley’s Pitt’s Burger Grill gets a hamburger, fries and a soda; or at the Pizza Hut there, a personal pizza, a bag of chips and a soda; or at Sub Connection, a six-inch sub, bag of chips and a soda.

If it’s a midday snack you’re after, Dining Dollars can be used to purchase smaller items, such as soda and juice by the bottle, cookies, and coffee.

Dining Dollars can be used like cash at any Pitt eatery and, unlike blocks, are not contingent on the eating week. Since students often run out of Dining Dollars mid-semester, they can purchase more, in $50 increments, at the Sodexho office in Towers Lobby.

Of these eateries, the two newest places to nosh are the Food Court at the Petersen Events Center and Einstein Bros. Bagels. The former offers a mall-type court with coffee and sandwich shops. The latter, operated by Sodexho, will replace the Second Plate in Posvar Hall. The Second Plate, a family-owned establishment, lost its lease this spring.

Sorting through these details may seem tough at first. Remembering the schedule of what’s offered when and where is a matter of practice. Depending on your predilections, the list of where you can eat becomes a shorter list of where you want to eat. For the vegan, kosher or finicky, knowing what’s available proves important. Such eaters can find veggies at C-Side or pre-packaged kosher meals at Eddie’s. Finicky eaters will be equally happy ? that is to say, not at all ? at any campus culinary destination.

You eat food. They serve food. It’s a match made in heaven. Or, at least, in the many on-campus dining halls.