UIndy offers new dining option
Walking into the student center at noon, you can see the usual lines of people waiting to go into the cafeteria, the Fiesta Grill, the Sub Hub and Streets Grill. These areas are crowded with students ordering their preferred selections. This year, however, a new meal option has been added to give students a little more variety and flavor.
Since transferring to UIndy last year, I’ve had my doubts about the quality and variety of food offered to students here on campus. This year, UIndy has added Chopsticks, a Chinese stir-fry restaurant that functions in conjunction with Streets Grill. Now students can have made-to-order Asian combination platters, similar to dishes found in American Chinese restaurants.
Chopsticks offers a pre-set menu everyday, but that raises my concerns. What if some students don’t like the ginger orange chicken or are allergic to peanut shrimp? Why do they not have the freedom to choose what ingredients to put in their meals? I think there should be substitution options for students with special dietary needs.
I had a high expectation for the food itself. The food was visually appetizing and smelled pleasant, but all I could taste was the sugary syrup running down my throat. There was no excitement to the dish except for a tiny hint of ginger lingering at the very end. Maybe it’s my personal preference or what I grew up with.
I am neither a cook nor a trained chef, but I do know from having Chinese food for 21 years so far that Chinese food shouldn’t just taste sweet. Like any cuisine, it should have character. The taste of any dish will vary from sweet, spicy, salty and every other combination, though I understand that changes always will have to be made to localize the cuisine to accommodate a community’s likes and dislikes.
Furthermore, I was quite frustrated when I saw the amount of chicken and vegetables given to me in the platter. As a commuter student, I must use Crimson Cash to pay for my meals on campus. If I am paying $6.25 for a meal, I expect a little more than just four small pieces of chicken covered in orange ginger sauce.
Nevertheless, when I asked my friends their thoughts on the new dish, they believed that it was delicious. They seemed surprised that it tasted different from the usual wok stir-fry that is served in the cafeteria.
I think it would be a good idea to expand Chopsticks’ hours of operations to be similar to the Sub Hub or the Fiesta Grill, so that students can have stir-fry at regular hours. Expanded hours of operation could serve as a way to ease the lunch rush in the cafeteria, and also provide the students and faculty who normally only have time to grab a sub or an order of nachos with a more substantial hot meal.
As of now, Chopsticks is only open on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. If Chopsticks adjusts its hours to match the other restaurants in the marketplace, it would benefit not only students who have classes during the current hours of operation but also those students whom have night classes and have to miss the regular hours of the cafeteria.
Overall, I think this new addition will prove beneficial to the student body. It provides students with a chance to explore new foods. I will be patiently waiting to see if Chopsticks expands its hours and improves the food quality and portion size in the near future.
