The V-Dub

I'm in between classes right now, and I want to do some work but I also want to take a little break from Differential Equations, so I think I'll get back to writing about Food@Brown. One note to you kids when you're going to college: Try schedule your classes in blocks. "Awkward Hour" breaks between classes are just about the worst thing ever, UNLESS it's a break for lunch or dinner. But, honestly, a 70 minute break for lunch is just a little excessive. But anyway.

So I already discussed The Ratty. But, somewhere along the line, I heard that there was another option! I think my first knowledge of it was when Chaz (the best friend of Kim, my very close friend from Governor's School) was talking about both of us living in the Pembroke campus, and that he was excited because our dorms were both right near "The V-Dub." [It's real name is The Verney-Woolley Dining Hall.] When I looked it up online, it looked kind of sketchy, and I think I referred to it as "A cereal bar with a hat on."

Well anyway, when we came to campus, there were all sorts of rumors about VDub. The Ratty was open for Orientation activities, but the VDub was not. No one knew exactly when it would open - some said Tuesday morning, some said Tuesday night, some said Wednesday morning, some said it was closed all week, some said it was closed all year, some people said it was closed on weekends, some people said it was only open on number days that were primes or perfect squares. Suffice to say, there was a lot of controversy around VW.

So I think it turned out that it opened Tuesday morning, but I wasn't aware of that, so I had to wait (I think) until Wednesday or Thursday to try it. I'm pretty sure I waited until Thursday because I was afraid it would suck on Wednesday (first day of classes) and who wants that? I also think it was Thursday because they didn't have pancakes the first time I went, and I think they have pancakes MWF.

So VW is located in the basement of a dorm complex called Morriss-Champlin (or Mo-Champ). To get to it, you have to go in a door near a very popular a cappella arch, down a flight of stairs, down a hallway, turn a corner, go down another long hallway with lots of windows that look into a little courtyard where people might eat if they go to the VW, and then turn a corner to the entrance. At night, another door is open that bypasses the second long hallway. Anyway, it's all painted yellow and very plain.

But when you go inside the VW, it's actually pretty nice. Let's say we went in for breakfast, so we took the long hallway. When the person swipes your card, to the right of them is a nicely decorated eating area, much like the nicely decorated "Caves" of The Ratty. It's mostly dark green and dark brown, all tables, no booths. If you walk straight, you'll come to a half-wall. To the left of the half-wall is where you put your trays when you're done (and you have to remove your silverware yourself - !) and to the right of the half-wall is the cereal bar, drink bar, etc. Here, all the cereal is right out of the box - they don't even bother to put in in a new container for you. It's just like eating at home. Oh, and the bowls are deep here! But the spoons are always way too big. Heh...

Anyway, if you go to the left when you go past the card swipe, you come to all the food. So turn a left and walk straight. The first thing you pass is the ice cream bar, which is also right near the Belgian Waffle bar, which is open all day every day that the VW is open. It takes 3 minutes to cook them, and they are PRETTY FREAKING GOOD. If you keep going, you get to an omelette bar. After that, there's three little stations where they serve whatever main meals they have - chicken, pancakes, french toast, I don't know. In the center there is all the silverware, lots of fruit, and sometimes desserts (usually at night). To the left of you is a loooong bar where people can sit and face a window, and looking through the window you see the same courtyard as before. If you walk all the way past the three food stations and the ensuing condiment station, you come to another seating area, which is also very green/blue/brown.

But this one has booths. Huge booths. That could probably sit like 10-15 people, with very high backs that look very exclusive... It's hard to believe that something that looks so luxurious could be in a college dining hall... but hey, there it is. I guess that's what our puny $3,000,000,000 endowment gets us.

So some comments about the VW:

-Everything at VW is better than The Ratty, because the cooks actually put effort into it at VW. VW is like a family restaurant, and Ratty is like fast food. This is most notable in the quality of the ice cream and the quality of the pancakes. The syrup, sadly, is still subpar.
-The Belgian Waffle bar is incredible, and also a pretty big draw for me.
-People generally go to VW for breakfast and dinner, but it's pretty dead for lunch beacuse everyone is in class, and all classes are like centered around Ratty. So at 12PM, there's about 1000 people in the Ratty every day.
-Eating at VW, though, isn't quite as fun as eating at Ratty. They play softer music at VW, the people are quieter, and it's just not as "Brown" as Ratty. When people who know Brown think about it, they think "Ratty," not VW.

So yeah, that's about all I have to say about that for now.

Peace out!