I don't know about you but eating tasty food makes me extremely happy! :D This week I want to give you a 'taste' of what eating at Caltech is like (pun not intended-- not really). Eating at Caltech is much more than swiping a card and getting cafeteria food-- embedded is a rich student culture that reflects the essence of the Tech student spirit. Also, contrary to popular belief, eating in college does not have to entail 3 meals for ramen!
The Caltech Dining Services (CDS) provides house dinners. Waited dinners are a tradition at Caltech so most house dinners are served by student waiters. Students from each house serve their fellow house mates each night. Eat week night, housemates sit down at long dinner tables (think Hogwarts in Harry Potter) to eat dinner together at a designated time to try to forget about problem sets and enjoy each other's company. In addition, most houses have fun traditions, their own set of "dinner rules" and play dinner games. For instance, when a student raises his/her drinking glass, s/he can request a drink, which can range from normal (apple juice, OJ, etc.) to mixes (Power Apple = Powerade + Apple Juice, Root beer float) to quirky/creative (Hawaiian special, Bad Hair day, ACM95 -- I'll leave these to your imagination). These house dinners are great ways for students to give announcements about school wide and campus events, ranging from sports games, volunteer opportunities, club meetings, campus activities, etc etc. Also, this is the perfect forum for students to share funny stories to elicit some hearty laughs.
For lunch, most students on the board plan use their "declining balance" or d-bal for lunch. Declining balance, or "Board Funds," is a debit account linked to our student ID card that allows you to make purchases at any campus or JPL dining location. The amount of declining balance allotted each term is determined by the board plan. Many students go to Chandler for lunch. Check out all the different choices you have at Chandler-- from sushi, oven-baked pizza, soup and salad bar, deli and much more! For those who don't mind the walk, Caltech's best kept secret is the deli-oriented Broad cafe--even though it's a little away from the hustle and bustle from the student houses, the food here is amazingly tasty! There is a wide range of organic sandwiches, which are made right in front of you! Check out their menu.
Broad Cafe has some excellent dips!
Many students who are off-campus and are off-board/don't have declining balance to spend on lunch often go to Ernie's, which is a truck that serves very reasonably priced and delicious Mexican food! There's always a huge line of undergrads, graduate students and post-docs in front of the truck come lunch time!
For students on board during the weekdays, there is "open kitchen" that is available from 7:30 am – 11:30 am and 3 pm – 7 pm. Open kitchen is gloriously convenient because it is open with a wide range of fruit, salad bar, sandwich makings, juice, soda, ice cream, cereal and assorted vegetarian and vegan items. Many students can grab a quick breakfast before class or drop by for afternoon snacks.
Red Door Cafe for caffeine boosts (like an on-campus Starbucks when you really need it!) and have a selection of yummy pastries as well. Their menu can be found here. The ambience is similar to that of a regular coffee shop and many students actually study or chit chat here.
When you need your caffeine in the morning or afternoon, there'll always be places to get it on campus!
During the night time, there is a student- run Coffee House (Chouse) to satiate those midnight munchies! This is a pretty popular option since there is a grill where mozzarella cheese sticks, chicken wings, etc. are among the favorites.
MOZZARELLA STICKS!
During the weekends, even though there are no board/house dinners, many students go out to eat, order in, cook, or get food from the C-Store. The C-store is an on-campus convenience store and most students use their student declining balance on. The C-Store is open until 1am and even open weekends as well. The Caltech Little t is a handy-dandy student-produced book that has reviews of local restaurants (among other useful information such as where to get a haircut, shopping, hotels for your parents, etc.). Generally, if students want something close by, they usually head up Lake Avenue and if they're feeling even more adventurous, go into Old Pasadena, which has numerous restaurants including the Cheesecake Factory (where Penny in the Big Bang Theory theoretically works!) and retail stores.
Big Bang Theory scene-- eating at the Cheesecake factory....in Old Pasadena!
Anyways, I hope I gave you sense that there is a plethora of (yummy) eating options and as a Caltech student, eating also embodies and reflects Caltech student culture and traditions in addition to providing a way to connect with friends.
