It’s no secret that we like to eat. We pretty much write about food any chance we get.
So when we decided to do a Higher Education Issue, it was a golden opportunity to take a trip down memory lane to a time when the simple swipe of a meal plan card could get us all the food we wanted. But it’s not like we could afford anything else anyway.
And since NHTI’s Capital Commons Cafeteria is open to the public and we can loosely pass for college students – especially at a place like NHTI who has lots of nontraditional students – we took the opportunity last week to gorge ourselves at the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet.
Prior to our arrival, we got a chance to scope out the menu thanks to the website dineoncampus.com/nhti. It had a list of all the options for the day, from the chefs table and vegetarian options to the pizza station and items off the grill.
The selection for the day looked like something we could enjoy, so we paid the $7.25 price to open up our world to endless possibilities.
And boy did it bring back some memories. It was like being back in school all over again. Food everywhere you looked and we could eat as much as our little hearts desired.
But it can also be a bit tricky. You don’t want to fill your plate up too quickly at the first station and have no room for something that you really want that is discovered later in the vetting process. So we took a look around to see it all before deciding exactly what to eat. After seeing it all, we had a clear plan of attack.
First thing on the plate was some spicy chicken strips and thyme seasoned potato wedges. We added some mixed veggies, because it’s really important to eat your vegetables.
As if the potato wedges weren’t enough, a helping of seasoned curly fries got added to finish off the first plate. The second plate consisted on a hamburger, buffalo chicken mac and cheese and some cucumber slices.
It was toward the end of lunch service (which runs from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.), so there were plenty of tables available.
The first thing to be taste tested was the spicy chicken. Unfortunately, it didn’t have much of a spice to it, but there was that deep fried crunch that we love.
The potato wedges were very thymey, which isn’t a bad thing, just not our cup of tea. A little less of the herb and they would have been just to our liking.
Now we’ve never found a seasoned curly fry we didn’t like, and that continues to this day.
The hamburger is about what you’d expect from a place that has to feed lots and lots of people at once, thin, easy to cook and not a lot to it. But we ate the whole thing.
The buffalo mac and cheese had a nice spice to it and was plenty cheesy enough, just not a lot of chicken in our helping.
We never got around to trying the pizza, so we can’t tell you much about it.
The salad bar and deli bar were both plentifully stocked and we fully expected to try something from them (outside of a few cucumber slices) but there’s only so much room in the ol’ stomach. Looks like we have a reason to go back.
That, and for the dessert. You could get Jello, baked goods or scoop your own Giffords ice cream. There was also a waffle station – regular and strawberry – fruit, cereal and just about any drink you can imagine.
Now we don’t want you to think that you’re going to walk into some gourmet meal. The food was decent and the options were plentiful, but you’re not likely to take your next date there. If you’ve ever eaten at a college cafeteria before, you know exactly what we’re talking about.
For the price though, you will definitely get your money’s worth.
You can also go there for breakfast or dinner (prices vary).
Looking at other days coming up, we noticed that some of the items are consistently on the menu, while others rotate. That way you can plan ahead for something you’ll like.
In the end, it’s a cafeteria serving things you probably lived off of in your day, so why not give it the old college try.
