Campus for a Foodie

Author: Christine Uyemera, SEAS ’13

If I had to pick just one thing that I love, it would easily be food. Technology and sleep are close seconds, but a good meal has the greatest potential to make me absolutely satisfied with my life for the moment. Unfortunately, I don’t have the funds or time to eat delicious meals on a regular basis. This year I moved off campus and share groceries with my roommates (one of which who is vegetarian) in lieu of purchasing a meal plan. On a regular day I might eat oatmeal, some variant of an omelet and pasta (all vegetarian, much to the dismay of my carnivore instincts). However, on certain special occasions, my friends and I love to venture out into the world (really just University City) and spoil ourselves with something tasty.

Penn loves to boast the urban setting of our campus, and I think this is one of the main aspects of Penn that attracted me. City = lots of restaurants. Lots of restaurants = greater possibility of a fantastic meal. The offerings are incredibly varied in ethnicity, price, and atmosphere. Before coming to Penn, I had never considered food carts to be anything more than cheap, dirty food that people had to get sometimes when they were in a rush, but now I’ve discovered that they are cheap, tasty options for any time and any day. Magic Carpet, Koja, and Buis are three of my favorite. They offer Vegetarian Mediterranean , Korean/Japanese food, and sandwiches respectively, and you can get a good meal for $6 at all of them. The food cart culture is definitely a unique component of the eating experience at Penn.

Koja Truck

Apart from the food carts, there are also sit-down restaurants on campus that I love to go to any time I have the opportunity. Pari Cafe Creperie is located right in Houston Hall and makes one of my favorites since being here, a huge chicken pesto crepe.

Another fantastic place to get quite a few bites is a new addition this year near Hill College House: Baby Blues BBQ. This is where I escape my accidental vegetarian life and get my meat fix. My roommate and I were innocently walking down Sansom one night when the aroma of barbecued ribs pulled us into the restaurant like dogs. We ended up splurging and ordering full on meals (as opposed to the regular bbq pork sandwiches) and it was worth every dollar. Being from Georgia, I am a barbecue fiend, and the quality and flavor of the meat at Baby Blues was incredibly satisfying.

One more restaurant that I have to mention in University city although it is not on campus (44th ish and Walnut) is another new one, Manakeesh. This restaurant/bakery serves lebanese “manakeesh” which are kind of like folded pizzas on pita-like bread with more delicious things on top. This restaurant is ridiculously cheap (which is dangerous to realize with an empty stomach) and everything is quality and authentic.

Manakeeesh

Writing this is making me really hungry, and these are just a few of my favorites. I wish I could write a blogpost about the restaurants that I love in all of Philadelphia, but I’ll save that for another day.  The take home point: college campuses in the city are the way to go for anyone who is excited by good food. And who isn’t?