by Laura
Last night, I ran into the main dining hall on UNC’s campus hoping to visit the Mediterranean Deli kiosk before our big soccer showdown. (Spoiler alert: We lost, and got scored on by someone with no arms. Granted, you don’t necessarily need arms to play soccer, but this pretty much sums up our level of talent.)
Unfortunately, I discovered that their “Main Street” area, which features local grub, closes after lunch. The only stations left open belonged to chain restaurants like Chick-fil-a. No disrespect intended to one of the fast food greats, but your cold fries were a sad consolation prize after my visions of Greek salad, and they almost certainly contributed to my lack of athletic prowess.
Normally I’m satisfied with “Main Street” – they rotate restaurants that serve a decent variety of ethnic choices. But this brought to mind one of the many reasons that Duke is ultimately superior to Carolina – it has an incredible array of food. When we moved to NYC, we still missed some of our old haunts, and not just due to nostalgia or the appeal of having meals cooked for you.
Here’s how the two compare, real blue vs. wussy blue:
Duke: You could take your dining points over to the fancy golf club restaurant.
UNC: Golf course located an unseemly one mile from campus. Classic sign of a state school.
Duke: There’s a link on their site that helpfully points out all the places you can buy alcohol on points. Except they categorize them as pubs, which is hysterical. Sorry, but the ‘Dillo mixes together tequila and fruit flavoring in a slushy machine. There is no Ye Olde Armadillo Grille.
UNC: You’ll have to save your shekels and make your way out to Franklin Street.
Duke: Latest innovation: sustainable, green eating at the Refectory. Which is located in the second mini Chapel next to the original incredible Chapel. We decided to build the second one with all the funds we get for, you know, being awesome.
UNC: Latest innovation: thinking of bringing in a Wendy’s.
Duke: Has a culinary club which hosts an upcoming Dessert Expo.
UNC: Not sure. Too busy planning to go to the Dessert Expo – no time to investigate.
Sure, as undergraduates, we may have had to brave the occasional Blazing Sea Nugget at the Marketplace, but we also enjoyed kosher dinners, Cosmic burritos, salmon pasta, the best tuna paninis in the world, and hotel-style brunch.
And now those little twerps get a million more improvements, like a 24-hour diner, a bruschetta station, Locopops on the BC Walkway, and Sitar Indian six days a week. Not to mention that the Engineering Building installed beer on tap. I have never actually seen this building where my engineer friends would go to “class”, and this only adds to my suspicions.
After three months of returning to College Townville, Harold is convinced that he was happiest as a 19-year old kid. Not helping my cause, Duke Dining. Not helping my cause.
Laura
Harold
